Jose Azar MD Joins HMH as New Chief Quality Officer
Jose Azar, M.D., has been named executive vice president, chief quality officer for Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) effective March 31, 2022. In this position, he will be responsible for setting the direction and leading HMH’s efforts to continuously improve the safety, effectiveness, efficiency, patient focus and timeliness of the health care we provide for all patients and in all care settings. Jose will also be tasked with refining and improving our comprehensive quality/performance improvement plan while also coordinating network-wide efforts to monitor and maintain compliance with all regulatory, state, federal and Joint Commission quality requirements. He will report directly to Dr. Varga, chief physician executive.
About Jose Azar, M.D.
Jose joins the network from Indiana University Health, where he served as chief quality and safety officer for the IU Health Adult Academic Healthcare Center (IUH AAHC). In this role, he helped deliver personalized excellence in care through an Agile transformation approach, creating a high-reliability culture and co-designing care with patients and care providers.
He is also the co-founder and chief engagement officer at the IU Center for Healthcare Innovation and Implementation Science, working to transform health care into a highly reliable system able to deliver safe, high value and personalized care. Jose was previously the medical director of quality and safety at IUH AAHC. Prior to that, he served as medical director for quality and patient safety and of inpatient hematology/oncology at the Indiana University Health Simon Cancer Center. He was also director of hematology/oncology at Indianapolis Wishard Hospital.
Jose holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the American University of Beirut. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Hematology and the American Board of Oncology. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Quality and Safety Award from the IU School of Medicine, the Trustee Teaching Award for Excellence in Medical Education and the Shining Star Award from IUH University Hospital.