The American Medical Association Foundation (AMAF) has honored Alëna Balasanova, MD, FAPA, with the AMA Foundation Award for Health Education.
According to a release announcing the awards, judges said Dr. Balasanova has demonstrated leadership in addiction medicine and psychiatry and has built a legacy at the University of Nebraska. While there, she has developed an outpatient addiction psychiatric clinic, an in-patient addiction psychiatric program, and wrote the curriculum for clinical rotations for medical students, residents, and fellows in addiction medicine and psychiatry.
Dr. Balasanova directs Nebraska Medicine’s Addiction Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic, an integrated care model providing concurrent treatment for substance use disorders co-occurring with other psychiatric illness. She also helped develop and is the co-director of the inpatient Addiction Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison Service for the hospital.
“As a long-standing member of the American Medical Association, the House of Delegates, and former elected member of the Council on Med Ed, it is a great pleasure to congratulate Dr. Balasanova on this honor,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey Gold, MD. “The AMA Foundation Award for Health Education is an extremely prominent national award established to recognize educational accomplishments in ways that the community has benefited. Dr. Balasanova’s work in addiction medicine, and most importantly, in the education of healthcare professionals and soon-to-be healthcare professionals, is critically important and is inspiring from both a regional and a national level.”
Dr. Balasanova, MD, FAPA, is a board-certified Psychiatrist with subspecialty board certification in Addiction Medicine. Her clinical expertise lies in integrated treatment for co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders.
Dr. Balasanova is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the Nebraska delegate to the YPS Assembly of the American Medical Association, where she serves on the Strategy and Leadership Committee. She is also an active member of the Education and Public Policy Committees of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) and was recently appointed the Director of Medical Student and Resident Education for AAAP. She has spent her career as a physician, educator, and innovator, contributing to the development of addiction and psychiatric clinical service.
The AMA Foundation Award for Health Education is made possible through the generous support of the John P. McGovern Foundation.
The video of the awards ceremony is here: Dr. Balasanova (Dr. Balasanova receives her award at the 16:26 mark.)
Read more about Dr. Balasanova:
Congrats to DR Balasanova and much deserved recognition and award!!
DR Balasanova is a great asset to our team and a joy to work with
Congratulations!