E. Andrew Balas, M.D., Ph.D.

Andrew Balas leads academic, local, and national initiatives facilitating innovative life sciences research responsive to societal needs and developing global competitiveness in the production of new scientific knowledge. At the center of these efforts are studies of innovative research laboratories and application of advanced digital technologies.
He serves as Professor at Augusta University, Vice President of the Friends of the NIH National Library of Medicine, member of the American College of Medical Informatics and elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Andrew Balas has been effective in taking on the status quo, achieving breakthrough performance improvements and fighting for better public access to scientific discoveries. His studies about delay and waste in the transfer of research results to health care are often mentioned reference points in translational research initiatives. The results have been cited by numerous research studies, policy-makers and the President of the United States. As a Congressional Fellow working for the Public Health and Safety Subcommittee of the United States Senate, he supported drafting the Healthcare Quality Enhancement Act of 1999 that, among others, first achieved government action on reducing errors in health care and was signed into federal law (Dec. 6, 1999). Recently, he published several studies on improving life sciences innovation performance in academic institutions.
At Augusta University, his service as Dean grew enrollment, launched new programs, increased funded research and expanded services to the community. During six years of his previous service as Dean, the College of Health Sciences achieved many successes at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia (e.g., double digit increases in enrollment, launching of new programs, tenfold increase in externally funded research; multimillion dollar fundraising, new R&D partnerships with industry). Previously, he served as Dean of the School of Public Health in St. Louis, Director of the Missouri European Union Center and Weil Distinguished Professor of Health Policy at the University of Missouri.
His academic credentials include over 100 publications, externally funded research in excess of 10 million dollars and publications that cumulatively attracted thousands of citations. He obtained degrees in medicine (M.D.), medical informatics (Ph.D.), and applied mathematics (MS).
Andrew and his wife Louise Thai, award winning medical school educator, have two grown sons, a physician in California and an investment executive in London, UK. Andrew speaks four languages, supports minority serving education and young researchers overseas and finisher of the annual Marine Corps Marathon every year since 2005.