Get Email Alerts
Robert S Balaban, Ph.D.
To arrange an interview, please contact the NHLBI Communications Office at 301-496-4236 or nhlbi_news@nhlbi.nih.gov.
Biography
Robert S. Balaban, Ph.D., is the scientific director of the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this role, Dr. Balaban oversees the NHLBI’s laboratory and clinical research in heart, vascular, lung, blood, and kidney diseases.
Dr. Balaban also serves as the chief of the NHLBI Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics. His lab research uses a variety of scientific approaches to study and monitor energy metabolism, a basic property of a cell that is also crucial for the understanding and potential treatment of many disease conditions.
Prior to being named scientific director in 2004, Dr. Balaban served as a staff fellow in the NHLBI Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Metabolism in 1982. In 1988 he was named chief of the newly formed Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics. He was then appointed as scientific director of the Laboratory Research Program in 1999.
Dr. Balaban received his Bachelor of Science in biology and chemistry from the University of Miami in 1971 and his Doctor of Philosophy in physiology and pharmacology from Duke University in 1980. He was also awarded a NATO fellowship to the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford in 1981.
Dr. Balaban served as trustee and president of the Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine from 1994-1995; trustee and president of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine from 1995-1996; and trustee and president of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance from 1999-2001. He is also a member of the American Physiological Society, the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the Biophysical Society.
Areas of expertise: cardiac imaging, mitochondrial biology, energy metabolism.
Dr. Balaban In the News
October 1, 2012
: NIH News in Health
MRI shows promise for heart procedures
An experimental MRI method may be as safe and swift as standard X-ray procedures for imaging the heart during certain types of surgery.
August 28, 2012
NIH pilot study shows feasibility of MRI to guide heart catheter procedures
Heart catheter procedures guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are as safe as X-ray-guided procedures and take no more time, according to a pilot study conducted at the National Institutes of Health. The results of the study indicate that real-time MRI-guided catheterization could be a radiation-free alternative to certain X-ray-guided procedures.
View all Dr. Balaban in the news articles
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube