Dr. Balch is the Chief Executive Officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Dr. Balch has nearly fifteen 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. He became the CEO of both PAF and NPAF in 2013. 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.

Dr. Balch has served on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation since 2007. Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the External Advisory Board 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, a member of the Quality and Outcomes Committee for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and recently served as a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN). Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC, is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Consumer Advisory Council, 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. Dr. Balch is the Chief Executive Officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Dr. Balch has a decade of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. 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 led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level over the years. For example, he helped to organize and lead a coalition that successfully fought for improvements in the regulatory process for the review of cancer drugs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He also contributed to the development of key federal policies related to the Affordable Care Act.

Dr. Balch serves on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation. Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Wellness and Health Promotion Advisory Committee, a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN), a member of the Advisory Board for the Patient Resource Cancer Guides, External Advisory Board member for the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) and a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Avalere Cost of Care Advisory Board. Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC and recently accepted an invitation to join the inaugural board for The American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) newest initiative, the Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM). He is also a member of the 2017 Access to Innovation Forum Steering Committee for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). He earned his PhD in environmental studies 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.

Michele Balint R.Ph. grew up in Ashtabula, OH. She is a registered pharmacist earning her degree from The Ohio State University. Michele began her 32-year career in retail pharmacy moving to the pharmaceutical industry working for companies like Marion Merrell Dow, Genentech, Genzyme, & Aegerion. She held numerous position in sales and market development before entering managed markets, field reimbursement, specialty channel management, 3rd party hubs, access programs, & operations assuring patient access. Currently, Michele is the Director of Patient & Market Access Operations for Aegerion Pharmaceuticals.

Ms. Balint is currently the President Elect of AMCP OH/KY Affiliate and AMCP Co-Diplomat for her alma mater, The Ohio State University, educating students on managed care trends in healthcare and AMCP. She has served on numerous boards and committees including Ohio Chapter of American Heart Association Board, the American Association Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Corporate Advisory Panel, AACE Socioeconomic Steering Committee, Chairperson of the OH/KY Affiliate Communication and Membership Committee, and The Ohio State University Alumni Board of Pharmacy.

Michele is married with two children and previously coached volleyball for 27 years.

Maria Kirsch is the Executive Director, Head of Patient and Specialty Services Strategy, Operations & Finance at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Maria is responsible for strategic and operational decision making for Patient and Specialty Services and is also the primary finance head for the group. Maria is also responsible for the cross-functional implementation of resource allocation, performance monitoring and management organization, various vendors and programs, customer insights and visibility to end-to-end patient journey.

Maria joined Novartis in 2010 and has held roles of increasing responsibility in Procurement, Finance and Patient and Specialty Services. Prior to joining Novartis, Maria held leadership positions at Pfizer in manufacturing compliance, strategy and lean six sigma, shop floor production and development sourcing. Prior to Pfizer, Maria was a change management consultant with Accenture.

Maria holds a B.A. in Psychology from The Catholic University of America and a M.A. in Social and Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Tom Hubbard leads NEHI’s projects on comparative effectiveness research, patient medication adherence, and prevention and wellness initiatives. Mr. Hubbard leverages his policy and technology experience to examine ways the country’s health care system can be transformed, focusing on the promotion of medical innovation and the improvement of quality and efficiency in clinical care.

Mr. Hubbard came to NEHI after seven years at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), where he led industry-focused projects and supervised the annual publication of the MTC Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. His work has included supervising the I-495 Technology Corridor Partnership, an industry-municipal collaboration on growth, and leading projects on broadband deployment, federal research funding advocacy, and nanotechnology.

Previously, Mr. Hubbard served as Executive Assistant for Economic Affairs to U.S. Senator John Kerry, as Deputy Director of Development for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and as Director of Community Development and Planning for the City of Gardner, Massachusetts.

Mr. Hubbard graduated from Harvard College and holds a masters in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

James Romano serves as the Director of Government Relations and Advocacy for Patient Services Incorporated (PSI). PSI is a national nonprofit patient assistance organization that assists families with rare diseases and chronic illnesses access needed treatments and therapies through health insurance premium assistance and cost sharing assistance. Since 2005, James has worked with PSI President, Dr. Dana Kuhn, to promote access to care for patients with rare, chronic and catastrophic illnesses.

James began his life in advocacy with the Bleeding Disorders Community which expanded to the rare disease community. James understands the importance of access to care, because of having three uncles and two cousins with hemophilia. In 1995, James began his career by advocating for the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act when he was 19 years old. James worked on Capitol Hill for a Member of Congress for 4 years specializing in health care issues. James then transitioned to health care lobbying firm where he assisted in representing patient advocacy groups. Since 2014, James has been a recognized leader in the fight to fix Third Party Premium Assistance Rule at CMS.

James holds degrees from Marymount University, George Mason University and an MBA from the University of Mary Washington. James currently resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife Carolee and daughters Rachael, Erica and Ashley—who he is training to be the fifth generation to advocate for the Hemophilia and Rare Disease Communities.

As we like to say, Sandoz Biopharma is not for the faint of heart!

I lead Patient Access activities across Sandoz Biopharma including Biosimilars, complex generics, and Pharma Derm. Direct oversight of Patient Support Programs, Specialty Pharmacy strategy, and Reimbursement Policy teams.

Being a part of an organization that is a pioneer in Biosimilars, and working on the first Biosimilar launched in the U.S., I am leading efforts to shape the market landscape. The Biosimilar marketplace brings about new and unique challenges, which allows me a unique experience to lead innovation to make access to therapy easier for more patients.

I also work on complex generics, 505(b)(2) products, and late stage products (LOE) products that inherently require new answers to old challenges.