Hank Balfour, M.D.

Professor, Pediatrics and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Mayo Mail Code 437
420 Delaware Street SE
Minneapolis , MN 55455
Phone: (612) 626-5670
Fax: (612) 625-5468
balfo001@umn.edu

Dr. Balfour is Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology where he serves as Medical Director of the University of Minnesota, Fairview Clinical Virology Laboratory. Dr. Balfour is recognized internationally as an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of viral infections especially those due to herpesvirus infections and HIV.

Dr. Balfour received his MD degree from Columbia in 1966, completed his internship and residency at the University of Minnesota and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1968, served as a pediatrician in the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Base, Dayton, OH from 1968-70, and then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Infectious Disease at the University of Minnesota in 1972. He has been on the University of Minnesota faculty ever since. He is board certified in Pediatrics.

Dr. Balfour established the University of Minnesota Clinical Virology Laboratory in 1972 and serves as its Medical Director. He identified antiviral drugs now used to combat cytomegalovirus, which causes serious problems for transplant patients. He is Principal Investigator of the University of Minnesota AIDS Clinical Trials Unit, which has enrolled and monitored more than 2,000 HIV-infected participants in trials of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and its complications. Dr. Balfour established the International Center for Antiviral Research and Epidemiology (I CARE) at the University of Minnesota in 1995. I CARE supports antiviral research and the training of physicians and pharmacologists interested in careers in antiviral therapy.

Dr. Balfour has published 250 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Science, Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics and Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Honors and Awards

Merck Manual Award, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1966
Biographee, Who's Who in: America, 1986 - present; the World, 1989 - present
Clinical Scholar Award, University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, 2005

Research Interests

1. Quantitative approaches to understanding the pathogenesis of Epstein-Barr virus diseases
2. Antiviral therapy for herpesvirus infections
3. Novel antiretroviral therapies
4. Exploring clinical pharmacology methods for optimizing antiviral therapy

Selected Recent Publications

Acosta EP, Balfour HH Jr. Acyclovir for treatment of postherpetic neuralgia: efficacy and pharmacokinetics. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2001;45:2771-4.

Balfour HH Jr, Edelman CK, Anderson RS, Reed NV, Slivken RM, Marmor LH, Dix L, Aeppli D, Talarico CL. Controlled trial of acyclovir for chickenpox evaluating time of initiation and duration of therapy and viral resistance. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2001;20:919-26.

Swindells S, Evans S, Zackin R, Goldman M, Haubrich R, Filler SG, Balfour HH Jr for the AIDS Clinical Trial Group 722 Study Team. Predictive value of HIV-1 viral load on risk for opportunistic infection. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2002;30:154-8.

Julin JE, van Burik J H, Krivit W, Webb C, Holman CJ, Clark HB, Balfour HH Jr. Ganciclovir-resistant cytomegalovirus encephalitis in a bone marrow transplant recipient. Transpl Infect Dis 2002;4:201-6.

Henry K, Erice A, Balfour HH Jr, Schmeling M, Berthiaume J, Wallace K. Lymphocyte mitochondrial biomarkers in asymptomatic HIV-1 infected subjects treated with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. AIDS 2002;16:2485-7.

Holman CJ, van Burik J H, Hinrichs S, Balfour HH Jr. Specific detection of human BK polyomavirus in urine samples of immunocompromised patients. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol 2003;10:66-9.

Cavert W, Balfour HH Jr. Detection of antiretroviral resistance in HIV-1. Clin Lab Med 2003;23:915-28.

Acosta EP, Balfour HH Jr. Intermittent administration of high-dose stavudine to nucleoside-experienced individuals infected with HIV-1. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2003;33:343-8.

Balfour HH Jr. Varicella (Chickenpox). In: Rakel RE, Bope ET. Conn's Current Therapy 2004. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Elsevier, 2004;75-8.

Balfour HH Jr. Herpes group viruses and HIV infection. PRN Notebook 2004; 9(4):20-4.

Cavert W, Webb CH, Balfour HH Jr. Alterations in the C-terminal region of the HIV-1 accessory gene vpr do not confer clinical advantage to subjects receiving nucleoside antiretroviral therapy. J Infect Dis 2004;189:2181-4.

Balfour HH Jr. Varicella (Chickenpox). In: Rakel RE, Bope ET. Conn's Current Therapy 2005. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Elsevier, 2005;81-4.

Balfour HH Jr, Holman CJ, Hokanson KM, Lelonek MM, Giesbrecht JE, White DR, Schmeling DO, Webb C-H, Cavert W, Wang DH, Brundage RC. A prospective clinical study of Epstein-Barr virus and host interactions during acute infectious mononucleosis. J. Infect Dis 2005;192:1505-12.

Vezina HE, Henry K, Ravindran GD, Kurpad AV, Raj TDS, Fox K, Weller D, Brundage RC, Balfour HH Jr. A randomized, crossover study to determine bioequivalence of generic and brand name nevirapine, zidovudine and lamivudine in HIV-negative women in India. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2005. In press.