Biography - E. Andrew Balas, MD, PhD

E. Andrew Balas
Dean of the College of Health Sciences and
Professor of Community Health
Old Dominion University

Andrew Balas M.D., Ph.D. serves as the Dean of the College of Health Sciences and is a  tenured Professor of Community Health at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He is member of the Board of Directors in the Virginia Business Coalition on Health, American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia, Friends of the National Library of Medicine, and Consortium for Infant and Child Health.

As a Congressional Fellow, Dr. Balas worked on health care legislation for the United States Senate Public Health and Safety Subcommittee. He drafted the Healthcare Quality Enhancement Act of 1999 that, among others, first achieved government action on reducing errors in medicine and was signed into law by President Clinton (Dec. 6, 1999). His contributions have been acknowledged in the Records of the United States Senate. Currently, he leads the National Forum on Healthcare Knowledge Management. Previously, he served on numerous national and state panels (e.g., National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, expert panels of the Institute of Medicine, NIH study sections, St. Louis Regional Health Commission).

His academic credentials include over 100 publications, including reviews and editorials in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), British Medical Journal, Archives of Internal Medicine and other periodicals.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Balas served as Dean of the School of Public Health at Saint Louis University. During his tenure, the School achieved the greatest number of students, largest faculty and staff size, lowest ratio of students per faculty, highest amount of new contracts and grant awards, and largest corporate donations historically. Previously, he was the Weil Distinguished Professor of Health Policy at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He obtained degrees in medicine (M.D.), medical informatics (Ph.D.), and applied mathematics.