Gautam Balakrishnan, MD, FCCP
Pulmonology Collaborator
Dr. Gautam Balakrishnan is a board-certified pulmonary and critical care physician at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph, Missouri, with a clinical focus on interventional pulmonology, advanced bronchoscopy, lung cancer diagnosis and pleural disease. He currently serves in leadership roles within Mosaic Life Care’s pulmonary program, including Director of the Bronchoscopy Program, and has helped advance the adoption of emerging diagnostic technologies within a community-based health system.
Dr. Balakrishnan has particular expertise in minimally invasive approaches to the diagnosis of peripheral pulmonary lesions and lung cancer. His bronchoscopy program has incorporated advanced technologies including robotic lung navigation, augmented fluoroscopy, endobronchial ultrasound and other image-guided techniques designed to improve lesion localization and tissue acquisition. Mosaic Life Care identifies robotic lung navigation, bronchoscopy, EBUS, lung screening and endobronchial valve therapy among its pulmonary services, and Dr. Balakrishnan has been closely associated with the implementation of these technologies.
He has also been an important clinical collaborator with ASP Health in implementing automated Rapid On-Site Evaluation workflows at Mosaic Life Care. Working with ASP Health, Dr. Balakrishnan and his team integrated automated specimen preparation and remote microscopic review directly into the bronchoscopy suite, helping address delays in specimen adequacy assessment and supporting more immediate feedback during pulmonary procedures.
Professional Experience
- Medical Director, Bronchoscopy Program, Mosaic Life Care
- Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician, Mosaic Life Care
- Chair, Institutional Review Board, Mosaic Life Care
- Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
Medical Training
- Medical Degree, Sri Ramachandra University, Tamil Nadu, India
- Residency, Internal Medicine, UnityPoint Health – Iowa Methodist Medical Center
- Fellowship, Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine