Dr. Govindasamy Balasekaran, better known as Dr. Bala, earned his PhD at the University of Pittsburg under the tutelage of Professor Robert J. Robertson, famous worldwide for his rate of perceived exertion work in exercise and Dr. Silva Arslanian, well known MD, is a pediatric endocrinologist from the University of Pittsburgh Medicine Center (UPMC), Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, USA. Following which, he completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship in molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh with Dr. Robert E. Ferrell, a world-renowned genetics professor. Dr Bala is the former Head of Physical Education & Sports Science (PESS) and former Programme Director of Sport Science and Management (SSM) at the Physical Education and Sports Science department in National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is currently an Associate Professor at NIE, and his research projects include physiological responses to exercise and adaptations to health and sports performance. In addition, he is interested in investigating the influence of genetic factors on exercise related outcomes and is currently involved in examining physiological predictors of human performance.

Dr Bala has extensive teaching experience in topics that include anatomy and physiology, applied exercise physiology, measurement and evaluation, metabolic and cardio-respiratory aspects of exercise, nutrition, obesity, fitness and conditioning. He is a certified American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Health Fitness Director and a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (FACSM), and sits on a number of international boards and holds important positions in Asian and Global societies such as the Asian Association of Sports Management (AASM), Asian Society of Kinesiology (ASK), Asian Society of Young Children (ASYC), Asian Council for Health, Physical Activity & Fitness (ACHPAF), Global Community Health (GCH), and Federation International D’Education Physique (FIEP Europe). He is also the current President of the Asian Council of Exercise and Sport Science (ACESS). In addition, he is an elected member of the prestigious Sigma Xi, a member of the European College of Sports Science and American Physiological Society. With many first rated published research papers, proceeding papers, books and book chapters in the area of Sport Science, Dr Bala serves as the Editorial Board member for a number of international journals and has been invited as keynote speaker/presenter for various renowned conferences. He has won the NTU Nanyang award (School) and several NIE commendation of Teaching awards. The NTU Healthy Lifestyle committee chaired by him won the Singapore HEALTH Award (Platinum) given by Singapore’s Health Promotion Board. He is also stays on campus as an faculty of residence since 2016 to interact and help local and foreign students to enjoy and live a holistic campus life. He is one of the faculty who helps run “Spartans”, which is an exercise programme which caters for in house student residents. It has become one of the favourite programmes for student residents and is also now expanded and available online to cater for more students to enjoy exercise and to distress from hectic campus life.

As a performance athlete himself who has represented his country (Singapore) in long distance running events, he has won medals in various international and local meets. He has also earned the distinction of having qualified and raced in the prestigious National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cross-country championships in the USA. Dr Bala holds both Level I and Level II International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) coaching certificates. A team manager at the 2009 and 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, as well as the 2016 Youth SEA Games, he has coached many national and local schools’ long-distance athletes who went on to achieve national honours and established national and local school records. He also volunteered and was the assistant secretary (2014 – 2016 June) and a Vice President of training and selection (2016 – 2018 Nov) for the national organisation Singapore Athletics Association (SAA). Dr Bala currently provides voluntary services to Singapore athletes as their national coach. He is currently the president of Cougars Athletic Association, an associate affiliate with Singapore Athletics, which is a non-profit club that nurtures young athletes for the future. Dr Bala has vast experience in the area of athletics coaching and is interested in vast aspects surrounding performance in track and field including sports science in various sports.

Designation
• Associate Professor (Tenured)
• Chair, Alumni Services

Educational Background
• Post Doctoral Fellow (Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, USA)
• PhD (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
• MSc (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA)
• BSc [Summa Cum Laude Honours] (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA)
• Diploma in Physical Education (College of Physical Education, Singapore)