Biography
As the medical centers chief executive since 2009, Dr. Balser has led remarkable growth over the past decade, expanding patient visits to 3.5 million per year from the Mid-South and communities nationwide with annual net revenues increasing from $2 billion to over $8 billion. The highest-ranked adult and childrens hospitals in the Southeast by US News, VUMC employs over 40,000 people and houses the nations 4th largest transplantation program, the Mid-Souths largest NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, and a host of destination clinical programs. As dean, Dr. Balser also oversees the VU School of Medicine, ranked 5 among research intensive medical schools in the last numerical ranking by US News and World Report. Over two decades he has spearheaded an agenda to bring personalized medicine from research concepts to bedside care, integrating advances in biomedical informatics, discovery science, and precision genomics. Recognized as the nations academic leader in health information technology, the NIH Data and Research Support Center for the US Precision Medicine All of Us Program is based at VUMC. In 2016 Dr. Balser guided VUMC through an historic restructuring process, separating the medical center legally and financially from Vanderbilt University through a $1.2B public debt issuance and forming an independent, not-for-profit corporation that continues its historic academic affiliation with the university. He has led acquisitions growing VUMC from two to five regional campuses with seven hospitals and over 1700 licensed inpatient beds, while expanding the employed medical practice to nearly 3500 clinicians providing care in over 200 outpatient facilities, the largest in the Mid-South. VUMC houses one of the nations distinguished medical education programs with over 1200 residents and fellows training in over 200 specialties. The School of Medicine ranks among the nations top NIH grant recipients, with over $900M in annual research awards supported by government, foundation, and industry sponsors. Among the nations most accomplished infectious disease research centers, VUMC has led key discoveries delivering vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, including Remdesivir (Gilead) and Evusheld (AstraZeneca). Through its wholly owned subsidiary Nashville Biosciences, VUMC has leveraged its BioVU DNA resource to establish the Alliance for Genomic Discovery with nine pharma and biotech partners, creating the nations largest whole-genome DNA repository linked to electronic health records for both academic and commercial use. Dr. Balser was a director for Varian Medical Systems (VAR) until its acquisition by Siemens and presently serves as a director of CVS Health (CVS) where he chairs the Medical Affairs and Technology Committee and serves on the Audit and Executive Committees. He also serves on the boards of VUMC (ex officio, voting) and the Nashville Healthcare Council. Elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2008, from 2018 to June of 2024 he was a governing council member and chaired the Academys 2020 and 2022 (50th Anniversary) annual scientific sessions.A graduate of Tulane (B.S Engineering), and a 1990 graduate of Vanderbilt (MDPhD pharmacology), he undertook internship on the Osler Medical Service, residency in anesthesiology, and fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology and critical care at Johns Hopkins. Joining the Hopkins faculty in 1995, he practiced cardiac anesthesiology and surgical ICU medicine while leading an NIH-funded research program aimed at the genomic underpinnings of cardiac rhythm disorders. He returned to Vanderbilt in 1998, became chair of anesthesiology in 2001 and VUMCs chief research officer in 2004. In 200809, he was named dean of medicine and vice chancellor for health affairs with executive responsibility for Vanderbilts medicine-related programs, responsibilities that continue since 2016 as President and CEO of VUMC and dean of the VU School of Medicine.