Prof. Balas is Weil Distinguished Professor of Health Management and Informatics in the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri. He is director of the Center for Health Care Quality and of the European Union Center at the University of Missouri. He also serves on the faculty of the Medical Informatics Training Program of the National Library of Medicine.

Prof. Balas has served on several state government committees, NIH, NCI, and AHCPR review panels, and in the leadership of various professional societies. As a 1997-98 Congressional Health Policy Fellow, he worked for the Public Health Subcommittee of the United States Senate. He has been a reviewer for JAMA, Archives of Pediatrics, and American Journal of Medicine.

Prior to his current position, Prof. Balas served as the Research Director of the Institute of Health Informatics and Computing. He was a National Kidney Foundation Fellow in the Registry of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association (London, UK). His credentials include over 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers and various textbooks. His educational background includes degrees in medicine (M.D.), medical informatics (Ph.D.), and applied mathematics (M.S.).