CVS Health names Jeffrey Balser to board of directors
CVS Health has appointed Jeffrey Balser to serve on its board of directors, effective immediately. He also has been named to the board’s medical affairs committee.
“Dr. Balser’s extensive experience in a wide range of roles across healthcare organizations will be an invaluable asset for the board,” said CVS Health president and CEO Karen Lynch. “His deep clinical expertise and leadership of a prestigious health system gives him the insight to help support our strategy to serve consumers and meet their health needs differently.”
Balser serves as president and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, serving as its chief executive since 2009, and has also served as dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine since 2008. VUMC is one of the largest and most prominent academic medical centers in the southeast, with seven hospitals and 170 outpatient facilities across Tennessee and neighboring states.
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“On behalf of the board, I want to welcome Dr. Balser to CVS Health,” said Roger Farah, independent chair of the board. “This is an exciting time for the company, and we are confident he will be a valuable addition as we continue to redefine health care.”
Balser is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves on its governing council. He also currently sits on the boards of VUMC, Tulane University and the Nashville Health Care Council.
“I believe CVS Health’s vision for primary care and its integrated approach to care delivery will help improve the health experience in our country,” he said. “I look forward to working with the management team and the board to help advance the company’s strategy.”
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Balser completed his internship with the Osler Medical Service, residency training in anesthesiology and fellowship training in both cardiac anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He joined the Hopkins faculty in 1995, practicing cardiac anesthesiology and ICU medicine while leading an NIH-funded research program aimed at the genomic underpinnings of cardiac rhythm disorders.
He returned to Vanderbilt in 1998, was appointed chair of the department of anesthesiology in 2001 and became VUMC’s chief research officer in 2004. In 2008 to 2009, Balser was named dean of the school of medicine and vice chancellor of health affairs with executive responsibility for Vanderbilt’s medicine-related educational, research, and clinical service programs, responsibilities that continue since 2016 in his role as president and CEO.