Balls-Berry Lab

Joyce Balls-Berry, PhD

Joyce (Joy) Balls-Berry, PhD, is an associate professor of neurology at WashU Medicine and core leader for the newly established Health Disparities and Equity Core in the Knight ADRC (Center Director John Morris, MD). Prior to joining WashU Medicine, Balls-Berry was an assistant professor of epidemiology and senior associate consultant at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. She completed her formal education at Xavier University of Louisiana with graduate training at WashU Medicine and The University of Toledo. Balls-Berry completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in health equity, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Florida.

Her work as a scientist centers on increasing awareness of the importance of community-patient engagement in research to increase health equity in minority and under-resourced communities. Recently, she completed a PCORI project to expand the efforts of the Minority Women in Research Network, which she established in 2011. The network’s mission is to promote community-patient engagement in research conducted by minority women scientists interested in research collaborations, academic scholarship, innovation and dissemination. As an educator, Balls-Berry received the Mayo Clinic Teacher of Year for the Graduate School and Educator of the Year for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science awards. The faculty and the student body vote on these awards. Recently, she shared her story of living with dyslexia and handling personal challenges as TEDx Talk.

Principal investigator

Joyce Balls-Berry, PhD

Joyce Balls-Berry, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurology

  Balls-Berry lab

Recent publications

  • Association of Social Determinants of Health with Genetic Test Request and Completion Rates in Children with Neurologic DisordersCole, J. J., Williams, J. P., Sellitto, A. D., Baratta, L. R., Huecker, J. B., Baldridge, D., Kannampallil, T., Gurnett, C. A. & Balls-Berry, J. E., Feb 12 2025, In: Neurology. 104, 5, e210275.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • Academic Promotions in Medicine: Characterizing Differences in Curriculum Vitae Across Race and SexWarsame, R., Kim, Y. H., Ouk, M. Y., Cole, K. C., Lacy, M. Q., Hayes, S. N., Shalle, Z., Balls-Berry, J., Jordan, B. L., Wolanskyj-Spinner, A. P., Spinner, R. J. & Enders, F. T., Feb 2025, In: Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 100, 2, p. 249-264 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • “In our community, we normalize pain”: discussions around menstruation and uterine fibroids with Black women and LatinasOrellana, M., DSouza, K. N., Yap, J. Q., Sriganeshan, A., Jones, M. E., Johnson, C., Allyse, M., Venable, S., Stewart, E. A., Enders, F. & Balls-Berry, J. E., Dec 2024, In: BMC Women's Health. 24, 1, 233.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • Genetic and multi-omic resources for Alzheimer disease and related dementia from the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research CenterFernandez, M. V., Liu, M., Beric, A., Johnson, M., Cetin, A., Patel, M., Budde, J., Kohlfeld, P., Bergmann, K., Lowery, J., Flynn, A., Brock, W., Sanchez Montejo, B., Gentsch, J., Sykora, N., Norton, J., Gentsch, J., Valdez, O., Gorijala, P. & Sanford, J. & 24 others, Sun, Y., Wang, C., Western, D., Timsina, J., Mangetti Goncalves, T., Do, A. N., Sung, Y. J., Zhao, G., Morris, J. C., Moulder, K., Holtzman, D. M., Bateman, R. J., Karch, C., Hassenstab, J., Xiong, C., Schindler, S. […]
  • Surgical Management of Fibroids: A Changing LandscapeYu, L., Huang, R., Okuagu, C., Bardawil, E., Balls-Berry, J. & Ross, W. T., Nov 1 2024, In: Journal of Women's Health. 33, 11, p. 1528-1535 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review