Each May, the Amherst Chamber of Commerce recognizes individuals and companies that support Western New York through their business and community service.

This year, the chamber honored Norma Nowak, executive director of the UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, with its Sponsors Award.

Nowak is a professor of biochemistry at UB and founder and chief scientific officer of Empire Genomics LLC, a molecular diagnostics company focused on enabling personalized medicine.

The award is given to a business on behalf of the chamber’s sponsor, First Niagara Bank, which chose Nowak and Empire Genomics for their outstanding contributions to the region.