“Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.” – Jorge Luis Borges

Dr. Balestra was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He attended medical school at the University of Buenos Aires, where he received his MD. He completed his internal medicine residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center. After his residency, he had a Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship at Stanford University. The main focus of his fellowship training was lung transplantation. He then went on to pursue fellowship training in Interventional Pulmonology at the University of Cincinnati, where he became proficient in advanced bronchoscopic techniques and helped develop the lung cryobiopsy program. He joined The Oregon Clinic in 2017 attracted to the beauty of the Pacific Northwest lifestyle. 

Dr. Balestra is the only physician in Oregon certified to offer the Zephyr Valve procedure to treat emphysema, a minimally invasive procedure that improves lung function for emphysema patients.

Dr. Balestra enjoys skiing and hiking in his free time.

Other Activities

Member, American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology

Member, American College of Physicians

Member, Pennsylvania Medical Society

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Fellowship, Interventional Pulmonology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2016

Fellowship, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, 2014

Chief Residency, Internal Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Internship and Residency, Internal Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, 2009

Residency, Internal Medicine, Hospital J. A. Fernandez, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2007

MD, Universidad de Buenos Aires School of Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004

BOARD CERTIFICATION

Critical Care Medicine

Pulmonary Medicine

Internal Medicine

Interventional Pulmonary Medicine

HONORS

Outstanding Resident Award, Albert Einstein Medical Center, June 2010

Publications

Balestra, R., Selvaraju, A., Benzaquen, S. and Zander, D.S., 2017. Pneumonic‐type mucinous lung adenocarcinoma diagnosed by transbronchial cryobiopsy. Respirology Case Reports, 5(3).

Balestra, R., Benzaquen, S. and Wang, J., 2017. Sarcoidosis-like Granulomatous Lung Reaction Associated with Anti–Programmed Death Receptor-1 Ligand Therapy. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 14(2), pp.296-299.

Saenz, A. and Balestra, R., 2011. Bilateral spontaneous pneumothoraces in a healthy young adult. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 184(12), pp.e3-e3.

Trastornos del Metabolismo del Calcio, in Farmacologia para Nutricionistas de Isolabella D, Reynoso C. Chapter 4, pp 75-100. First Edition. 2005. Grupo Editor Mediciencia (Spanish).