Alan Balch is the chief executive officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation. He has nearly 15 years of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. He has led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level over the years. From 2006 – 2013, he served as the Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership — a national health promotion collaboration between the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association. Prior to his work with the Preventive Health Partnership,

Dr. Balch was the executive director of Friends of Cancer Research. He has served on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation since 2007. He also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Consumer Advisory Council, a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN), a member of the External Advisory Board member for the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR), a member of the Duke-Margolis Payment Reform Group, a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Avalere Cost of Care Advisory Board and is on the Quality and Outcomes Committee for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC and sits on the inaugural board for The American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM).

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 (cum laude) in biology in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio.