Katrina L. Balovlenkov, LCSW

Chief Behavioral Health Officer

Katrina L. Balovlenkov, LCSW, is a behavioral health leader, social worker, educator, and mental health clinician with more than 20 years of experience across behavioral health, HIV, substance use, public health, and community-based care. She currently serves as Interim Chief Behavioral Health Officer for Wellness Equity Alliance and is faculty at the NYU Silver School of Social Work and Columbia School of Social Work.

Her work focuses on strengthening health systems and advancing patient-directed approaches to care that recognize people as experts in their own lives. She is particularly interested in the social determinants of health and the intersections of lived experience, mental health, substance use, HIV, and HIV acquisition risk, as well as the development of accessible and responsive services for people who are unstably housed or unhoused.

Across her clinical, academic, and leadership roles, Katrina works to bridge direct practice, community expertise, and systems-level change. She is passionate about developing models of care that move beyond traditional provider-driven approaches and create meaningful opportunities for patients to define their priorities, participate in decision-making, and shape the care and services they receive.