Director since September 2022
Age 62
Dr. Balser has served as the chief executive of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (“VUMC”) since 2009, and has been President and Chief Executive Officer of VUMC since 2016, when it became an independent health care company. He has also served as Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine since 2008. Dr. Balser is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves on its governing council. He previously served on the board of Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VAR; “Varian”), an oncology treatment device and software maker, from October 2018 until Varian was acquired by Siemens Healthineers AG in April 2021.
Dr. Balser’s business experience includes large regional quaternary health delivery system leadership, human capital management, senior business management experience including a number of community hospital and medical practice acquisitions, overall risk management expertise through oversight of VUMC’s quality, compliance and corporate integrity activities, and financial expertise through management of its P&L and balance sheet and its separation from Vanderbilt University. His experience as a physician scientist includes leading NIH-funded research in various areas of pharmacogenomics and spearheading growth in personalized medicine at VUMC from research concepts to bedside care, integrating advances in informatics, discovery science, and precision genomics. He received a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University and an M.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt. Dr. Balser’s extensive experience in a wide range of roles across health care organizations is a tremendous asset for the Board and its Health Services and Technology Committee. The Board believes that Dr. Balser’s deep clinical experience adds knowledge and leadership depth and that he brings great value to the Board and its committees.