Dr. Balis was born in Kalamata, Greece, and received his doctorate of Medicine at the University of Athens. He completed his studies in pathology in the United States and Canada, and served as an investigator at the Research Institute Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He has taught at Loyola University of Chicago (1966-78) and at the College of Medicine of the University of South Florida (1978-2004), where he directed the educational pathology program for medical students. He has received the Outstanding Pre-clinical Teaching Award repeatedly, as well as numerous other recognitions of his accomplishments as a teacher and program director. He has headed multidisciplinary research prorgams both at Loyola and USF, published extensively in the fields of vascular and pulmonary pathobiology, and served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at USF. Dr. Balis was one of the founding five members of the Greek Studies Council, a precursor of AFGLC; additionally he has served as the Executive Vice President of AFGLC-IFGLC (1992-2007); and has served as the current foundation President since 2008.