The Monroe County Medical Society has recognized two health professionals with its 2024 Edward Mott Moore Physician and Layperson Awards. This award recognizes individuals whose dedication to the community goes above and beyond the usual call of duty.
They are:
• Physician Michael Nazar, University of Rochester. He received the 2024 Edward Mott Moore Physician Award.
Nazar is a retired family medicine physician and physician executive. A graduate of Amherst College and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Dentistry, Nazar has lived in Rochester since 1982. He completed his family medicine residency at the University of Rochester / Highland Hospital training program. He is board-certified in family medicine and geriatric medicine. He was a clinical associate professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical School.
He held several administrative roles at Rochester Regional Health and its legacy institutions, including chairman of family medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital; senior vice president, Unity Medical Group at Unity Hospital; and executive vice president, chief of medical groups at Rochester Regional Health. He left his administrative roles in 2017.
Nazar has been active in several community and healthcare focused entities. He is a past chairman of The Finger Lakes HSA (now Common Ground Health). He remains on the board of FLPPS (Finger Lakes Preferred Provider System) and is co-chairman of its clinical quality committee. He is vice president of the Rochester Regional Physicians Organization and serves on the GRIPA board
Nazar lives in Rochester with his wife, Kate Callery. He has two adult children, William Nazar of Miami and Alice Nazar of Denver.
• Dentist Janice Harbin received the 2024 Edward Mott Moore Layperson Award.
A 1979 graduate of Howard University College of Dentistry and a 2014 Healthcare Business Fellow, Harbin’s extensive community health career has been dedicated to serving racially, socially and economically diverse populations for over 40 years. Harbin moved to Rochester in July 2012 to take a position with Anthony L. Jordan Health Corporation, a multi-site federally-qualified health center in Western New York, as its dental director, before becoming interim CEO in November 2012. She became president and CEO in October 2013 and remained there until 2023.
As a public health dentist since 1979, she headed the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion Adult Dental department, as well as served as adjunct faculty for the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, prior to relocating to New York. She served as dental director for Detroit Health Care for the Homeless (Advantage Health Centers), while improving operational efficiency and creating productive and sustainable dental teams and departments. From 1999 to 2003, she was professionally engaged as a community organizer with Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES) in Detroit; providing training in leadership development and problem solving, for city and suburban faith-based Christian, Jewish and Muslim organizations. In 1999, representing the grassroots community, she worked on the national planning committee for the President’s Council of Sustainable America, chaired by Vice President Al Gore. She is the mother of three sons, Dane, Spencer, Elliott and niece, Carrie.