Alan Balch, PhD

Alan J. Balch, PhD, Executive Chairman, Patient Advocate Foundation Board of Directors Dr. Balch has 23 years of executive leadership in the nonprofit sector spanning multiple areas both nationally and internationally including access and affordability, health equity, prevention and early detection, and patient-centered research. Prior to his 13-year tenure as CEO of Patient Advocate Foundation, he worked from 2006 to 2013 as a senior executive for the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association as the Vice President of a national health promotion collaboration known as the Preventive Health Partnership. Before that, Dr. Balch was the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research from 2003 to 2006. Dr. Balch currently serves or recently served on dozens of selective boards, steering committees, and councils for an array of institutions. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Clinical Pathways and on the advisory board for the Journal of Oncology Navigation and Survivorship. He is frequently invited to peer review article submissions to various publications including the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Journal of Clinical Oncology, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and the American Journal of Public Health. He earned his PhD in environmental studies with a concentration in political economy in 2003 from the University of California, Santa Cruz; his master’s degree in environmental sciences in 1997 from the University of Texas in San Antonio; his bachelor’s degree in biology in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio.