Justin M. Balko obtained his Doctorate in Pharmacy from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2004. After completion of his PhD in the Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics track of the Pharmaceutical Sciences program at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, he joined the laboratory of Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, in 2009 as a postdoctoral research fellow.

Dr. Balko was appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine in January of 2015 and promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology in February of 2020. He has published approximately 90 papers in the field of molecular oncology and translational oncology research, primarily in the breast cancer field. His laboratory focuses on identifying biomarkers and mechanisms of drug sensitivity or resistance in breast cancer and other tumor types, ways to enhance response rates to immunotherapy by targeting cancer-specific signals of immune suppression, and the biological mechanisms of immune-related adverse events to immunotherapies. His laboratory receives funding from the NIH/NCI, the Department of Defense, The IBC Network Foundation, the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, The Mary Kay Foundation, Stand Up 2 Cancer/AACR, and Susan G. Komen. He is currently a correlative sciences Principal Investigator on several breast cancer trials employing combinations of molecularly-targeted agents with immunotherapy.