Salva Balbale, PhD
Salva Balbale is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine — Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, and the Northwestern Quality Improvement, Research, & Education in Surgery (NQUIRES) at Northwestern University. She is also a Research Health Scientist in the Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare at the Hines Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital. Leveraging extensive experience with qualitative and mixed methods, research portfolio focused on making care safer, better coordinated, and more patient-centered, particularly for individuals with complex and chronic disorders. She is the recipient of a 3-year career development award from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation that aims to design and implement a user-centered screening tool to assist young adults with IBD and their clinicians monitor risk of unsafe opioid use. Additionally, she is an active collaborator on a broad range of extramurally-funded research and quality improvement projects within Northwestern, Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the VA. These include projects focused on the implementation of telehealth technologies for Veterans with chronic illnesses, including chronic kidney disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and delivery of enhanced recovery interventions to improve gastrointestinal surgical care. Her work has been featured in journals including Implementation Science and JAMA Network Open. In her roles as an educator and mentor, Dr. Balbale was selected in 2023 for Northwestern's Searle Fellowship within the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching. In addition to her research portfolio, she co-directs the Community Health Research concentration within Northwestern's Masters of Public Health program and teaches within the Masters of Health Services and Outcomes Research program.
Contact: Salva.Balbale@va.gov
