Biography

Dr. Balkrishnan, a tenured Full Professor of Public Health, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine has dedicated over 25 years of his life towards teaching and research in population health. He is a social epidemiologist whose research program focuses on medical care access, especially focused on long term pharmacological treatment of medical conditions. In particular, Dr. Balkrishnan has been recently focused on exploring issues related to adherence and quality of care in oncology, diabetes, and kidney disease in underserved populations. For over two decades Dr. Balkrishnan has worked with the Medicaid program to understand issues of access to essential pharmacotherapies in low income populations. Dr. Balkrishnan is a part of a research group that is exploring issues related to oncology care in rural Appalachia. In addition he has served as key co-investigator on large national studies such as the USRDS. Dr. Balkrishnan combines his expertise in health informatics, pharmacy, health services research and biostatistics to create and analyze large data repositories which enable “real world” evaluations of the effectiveness of medical care. He is also involved in the development of several registries for non-communicable chronic diseases globally. He has performed several comparative effectiveness evaluations of technologies and treatments. Dr. Balkrishnan has published over 350 research papers (2022 Google Scholar H-index: 70) , books and book chapters and has been recognized nationally and internationally for his expertise in effectiveness research and evaluation. Dr. Balkrishnan was recently recognized in a list of Top 2 percent of scientists in the world based on impact of published research. In 2021, Dr. Balkrishnan was bestowed the honorary title of ‘Extraordinary Professor in Public Health’ at the African Cancer Institute, Stellenbosch University, Capetown, South Africa.

At the University of Virginia, Dr. Balkrishnan is a member of the Cancer Population Health Sciences Program at the UVA Cancer Center, and Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing. He teaches PHS 3102: Data Analysis for Public Health both semesters in the global public health program. Dr. Balkrishnan is also involved in annual summer public health research immersion experiences for undergraduate students.

Specialties: Quantitative Health Policy Research, Pharmacoepidemiology and Health Services Research, Social Epidemiology, Healthcare Outcomes Research, Global Health, all with a focus on Health Disparities.