Jeffrey R. Balser, MD, PhD
B.S. Engineering, Tulane University, 1984; M.D./Ph.D. (pharmacology)Vanderbilt University, 1990.
As the medical center’s chief executive since 2009, Dr. Balser has led remarkable growth, expanding patient visits to 3.5 million per year from the Mid-South and communities nationwide with annual net revenues growing from $2 billion to over $9 billion. The leading adult and children’s hospitals in the Southeast, VUMC operates with over 45,000 employees and houses the nation’s largest heart transplantation program, the Mid-South’s largest NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, and a host of national destination clinical programs. The research enterprise is now among the nation’s largest with revenues of nearly $1 billion and ranking #5 in NIH funding with the VU School of Medicine. Home to many of the nation’s finest scholars and investigators, several departments including the two largest, Medicine and Pediatrics, are #1 in NIH funding.
In 2016 Dr. Balser guided VUMC through a 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 clinical acquisitions growing from two to five regional campuses with seven hospitals and 2000 licensed inpatient beds, while expanding the employed medical practice to 5000 clinicians providing care in over 200 outpatient facilities, the largest in the Mid-South. VUMC houses one of the nation’s most distinguished physician education programs with the highly selective VU School of Medicine attracting over 7000 MD applicants for only 96 positions, and campus hospitals housing 1200 residents and fellows undergoing advanced training in nearly 200 specialties. For over two decades, Dr. Balser 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 nation’s 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. The medical center’s BioVU® DNA resource is the largest US whole-genome DNA repository linked to electronic health records for academic and commercial use. A leading infectious disease center, VUMC led key discoveries delivering treatments for COVID-19 including Remdesivir (Gilead) and Evusheld (AstraZeneca).
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 2018-2024 he was a governing council member and chaired the Academy’s 2020 and 2022 (50th Anniversary) annual scientific sessions. A graduate of Tulane (BS Engineering) and Vanderbilt (MD/PhD pharmacology), following internship on the Osler Medical Service Dr. Balser also undertook 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 cardiac surgical ICU medicine while leading an NIH-funded research program aimed at the genomic underpinnings of cardiac rhythm disorders. Returning to VUMC in 1998, he became chair of anesthesiology in 2001 and chief research officer in 2004. In 2008/09, he was named dean of medicine and vice chancellor for health affairs, responsibilities that expanded in 2016 as he became President and CEO of VUMC while remaining dean of the VU School of Medicine.