When it came to attending college, Ella Balasa (B.S. ’14) knew she didn’t want to go far. The Richmond native was born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder that primarily affects the lungs and digestive system, and she relied on care from VCU Health. In 2010, she started at VCU as a biology major, and quickly found her passion for microbiology in the lab of Rima Franklin, Ph.D., professor and director of the School for Life Sciences and Sustainability.  

Upon graduation, Balasa realized that her degree combined with her first-hand experience of chronic illness offered a unique perspective. Today, she is a patient expert and founder at Balasa Consulting, a business she created to better advocate for fellow patients fighting CF.

What drew you to VCU to pursue your undergraduate studies in biology?

I chose VCU because, at the time, I wanted to stay local. I'm from Richmond and, to be honest, I felt like I wasn't independent enough to leave the security of Richmond and my close family, which was partly due to my medical care being at MCV hospital.

I was always interested in science ever since I was young. In fifth grade, I remember learning about earth science and volcanoes and it was just very fascinating to me. I thought about doing environmental studies as a degree, but, at the same time, I kind of wanted a little bit more understanding of the ecosystem and how we all interact in this world together — animals and humans and the environment. 

Was there a faculty member that made a particular impact on your education and/or career journey? How so?

Rima Franklin, Ph.D., [professor and director of the School of Life Sciences and Sustainability] is such a kind person and really felt like a mentor to me. I took her class and a lot of what we were doing was microbiology focused. We were in it from an environmental perspective, learning about how the microbial world impacts us on a more global scale and thinking about how bioremediation can be used. That combined with my own experience with dealing with antibiotics and having to take a lot of the antibiotics for treating my Cystic Fibrosis. I was really interested in how antibiotic use can proliferate and make bacteria more resistant and be more harmful at the same time.

A lot of what we were doing was looking at environmental quality, so water quality, soil qualities, etc. That led me to do an internship with the U.S. Geological Survey doing water quality assessment. After I graduated, I worked in water quality in the city for a little while at the water treatment plant. Then I worked in Rima's lab afterward for a couple of years. She obviously made a huge impact on not only the interest that I had in college, but then subsequently on the work that I was doing.

Did your studies help you discover any new understanding about Cystic Fibrosis? What is it like to study in a field that could impact your disease?

I started to understand how my body works on a more molecular level and this tied into how bacteria affect not just the environment, but affect the way that my body works and how bacteria are really the most detrimental thing to me.

I know the cause of the deterioration of my lungs in the ways that it affects my body, and it was really empowering that I understood more about my disease from a scientific perspective and that I understood more about bacteria from an environmental perspective. The more that these two things collided, it allowed me to gain the kind of confidence to be a voice for my disease community at large. I wanted to share more publicly and broadly about my own health journey and how research and science can affect or improve our health outcomes. 

Following graduation, you worked as a lab manager in the Department of Biology before starting to also write columns about CF. What inspired you to begin editorial writing? Was it difficult at first to write so personally about your experiences? Was it helpful as a patient to have a platform to write about your experiences?

By that time, I was really struggling with maintaining my health. I was having to take a lot of hours out of my day doing breathing treatments. 

I was working part time as a lab manager, and I really felt like I wasn't able to keep up with my peers in the sense of seeing everybody after graduation moving up. I felt to some degree, although I was still being productive and I felt like I was learning a lot and doing meaningful work, I still felt stagnant. That's what prompted me to want to share my experience so that I could in some ways relate to other people who were going through the same thing or to be a voice for those others who may be experiencing the same thing. 

It was challenging, but also cathartic in that I felt like I had an outlet for it, almost like a purpose. Maybe that purpose was through my own struggle, maybe somebody else can relate to me, and it may bring them some sort of peace.

In 2019, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria attacked your lungs, forcing you to begin an experimental bacteriophage treatment where you inhaled a virus taken from sewage water to kill the life-threatening superbug. As a patient and a scientist, what was it like to learn about and comprehend the scientific processes conducted by the researchers to create the treatment that you would receive?

At the time it was a very difficult situation. I had been already interested in learning about ways in which these bacteria that were taking over my lungs could be minimized or reduced in population so that I could have a better quality of life.

I had come across this type of treatment by accident. Already having the experience working with Rima and communicating with other researchers, I felt comfortable and confident in pursuing it. Even in our interactions, I felt like I wasn't necessarily the receiver of care. I was the patient, but at the same time, it was almost like we were making an informed scientific decision together. I did a lot of my own research and I felt comfortable that the benefit could potentially outweigh the risk.

I'm somebody that to some degree is a risk taker, and based on the health circumstances that I was experiencing at the time and the difficulty of that, I felt that any solution or anything that could help would be worthwhile. Feeling empowered to communicate directly with these researchers on the phone to ask them really specific questions like, ‘how this might affect me? What are the long term repercussions?,’ that obviously helped to ease my trepidation. Ultimately it was just the decision of, if anything can improve upon the current state of my health, then it's something that's worth it to me.

Afterward, I really wanted to share about it more broadly. That's when I became, you could say this advocate for the need for novel therapeutic against antibiotic resistant infections. 

What inspired you to evolve your work creating content about your experiences with CF into a role in patient advocacy?

It's been tremendously rewarding. The reward started with the catharsis for me to be able to relate to others in the community about the struggles that I had with finding success, finding fulfillment.

Then the reward shifted to me finding a little bit more of my purpose and finding my voice. That was by being able to support and give perspectives to researchers for them to create better treatments, better systems, better care for people living with diseases.

I could be this voice to give this patient perspective from the lens of understanding research and science. From that point, I just kind of grew from that and I could really find success in this, be this voice that I also sought out and sought after. 

What does your day to day look like in your current role?

Day to day, I support various stakeholders including pharma, digital health, life science technology companies, as well as advocacy groups and patient engagement teams. 

I develop healthcare communications materials, serve on research and advisory boards, optimize clinical trial designs and reviewing protocols, provide feedback on digital health platforms, compose plain language summaries and thought leadership pieces, moderate patient and industry discussions/webinars, attend in person conferences and speak at events, and work with patient communities to educate and engage on various aspects of clinical care and research.

Do you have a particular project or campaign or speaking engagement that you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of?

Last fall, I was invited to give opening remarks at the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance sharing my lifelong journey battling AMR infections and calling to world leaders, governments and other stakeholders to develop policies, regulations and incentivization for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to treating infections globally.

In addition to your professional work, you’re also incredibly active as a volunteer, serving on boards, taskforces and reviewing scientific work. Reflecting on your time at VCU, how do you feel your time on campus, coupled with your experiences as a patient, helped prepare you to accomplish the work you’ve done so far in your career?

I would say that it really solidified my knowledge base; everything builds on the next thing. Having the experience that I had at VCU from making not just community and social connections, but learning the ins and outs of the biological world and the fascination that I had with that, leading into wanting to make an impact in the work that I was doing. My experience working in the laboratory and my undergrad degree was the foundation of learning that then allowed me to be that stronger voice in patient advocacy.

What’s your why? What are you hoping to still accomplish in your career?

I hope to continue making an impact on the lives of other people living with not only CF but all conditions. I hope that through the involvement I have with healthcare companies to whom I  provide the patient perspective and encourage them to collaborate with patients from early drug development and in the development of other healthcare solutions and services, patients are going to ultimately receive better healthcare and have access to medications that significantly improve quality of life.