James F. Bale, Jr., MD

James F. Bale, Jr., MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology, previously served as the Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Pediatrics and the Director of the Categorical Pediatric Residency Program. Dr. Bale's clinical and research interests focus on congenital infections, especially those resulting from cytomegalovirus, and for many years, he ran an NIH-funded laboratory that investigated the molecular epidemiology of cytomegalovirus infections in young children. Currently, his career focuses on education of medical students, residents and fellows. He directs the University of Utah's participation in Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum, an Association of American Medical Colleges-sponsored program that involves four medical schools in the U.S. During his 30 years in academic child neurology, Dr. Bale has published over 150 manuscripts and more than 50 book chapters regarding clinical child neurology, neurologic infections, and pediatric education. He is the senior author of a highly-regarded, illustrated textbook, The Handbook of Pediatric Neurology, that describes the diagnosis and management of many conditions affecting the nervous system of infants, children and adolescents. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Bale served as President of the Child Neurology Society, and from 2010 to 2012 he was Chair of the Council of Pediatric Subspecialties, an organization devoted to the advancement of the pediatric subspecialties. He was a member of the Board of Trustees for Primary Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, for ten years. He currently serves on the Maintenance of Certification Assessment taskforce of the American Board of Pediatrics and recently completed a six-year term on the NST-1 study section of the NIH.

Research Statement

Dr. Bale's research interests focus on medical education and congenital human infections. He currently serves as the Director of Utah's participation in the AAMC-sponsored Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum (EPAC), an innovative medical student program that uses competency-base metrics, rather than time, to determine readiness for the transition from undergraduate medical education (medical school) to graduate medical education (internship and residency). Utah is one of four U.S. medical schools to participate in this pilot project. Dr. Bale also serves as Co-PI of a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded study of family centered rounds. The overarching hypothesis of the latter study is that medical errors in pediatric hospitals can be reduced by integrating families more effectively into clinical rounds and medical decision making.

Dr. Bale's has a career-long interest in human congenital infections, particulary those due to cytomegalovirus and has published extensively regarding cytomegalovirus, both in humans and animal models. He will serve as a consultant to the Utah State Department of Health Surveillance of congenital Zika virus infections.

Selected Publications