Dr. Balkrishnan, a tenured Full Professor of Public Health and Global Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has dedicated over 25 years of his life to teaching and research in population health. He is a social epidemiologist whose research program focuses on global medical care access. In particular, Dr. Balkrishnan has been recently focusing on improving health in underserved populations both within the US and globally and strengthening healthcare systems through improving population quality of life.
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 has served as a 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. Dr. Balkrishnan has published over 350 research papers (2023 Google Scholar H-index: 74) , 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 the top 2 percent of scientists in the world based on the 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, Cape Town, South Africa. At the University of Virginia, Dr. Balkrishnan is involved in teaching in both the undergraduate (Global Studies) and graduate (Public Health) programs throughout the academic year.
He is a mentor to both undergraduate and graduate students interested in the study of health disparities and healthcare policy analysis. He also conducts summer global health immersion courses for students in Nepal and Ghana.
