Dr. Balakrishnan completed veterinary school in India and moved to the US for additional training. After a small animal rotating internship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a residency in small animal emergency and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania, she became board certified by the American College of Emergency and Critical Care in 2014. After a stint as faculty at The Ohio State University from 2014-2016, she worked at Cornell University Veterinary Specialists from 2016-2021, where she headed the Emergency and Critical Care Service and established the small animal ECC residency program, while holding a position as adjunct faculty at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research interests center on sepsis and respiratory critical care, with a particular focus on the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. She currently serves as co-chair for the RECOVER Registry Committee. She is currently the Director of Emergency Certificate Education at the Veterinary Emergency Group where she is privileged to be working to create innovative educational programs for emergency clinicians.