Mrinalini Balki MBBS, MD

Dr. Mrinalini Balki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesia, and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and a Staff anesthesiologist, at Mount Sinai Hospital. Her clinical specialty is obstetric anesthesia.

Dr. Balki’s main research interests include ultrasound scanning for neuraxial procedures, optimizing the management of postpartum hemorrhage, obstetric airway management, as well as creating an obstetric anesthesia simulation training program.

In labor and delivery settings, she studies ways to improve anesthesia practice for enhanced patient safety, including optimizing the doses of spinal drugs, vasopressors, antiemetics, and uterotonics for C-sections; intravenous patient-controlled analgesia regimens for labor analgesia; and spinal ultrasound. She has conducted nationwide epidemiology studies to understand the etiologies and risk factors associated with complex conditions such as cardiac arrest in a pregnant patient.

She is a principal investigator in several clinical and basic science studies on postpartum hemorrhage, including those relating to the effects of uterotonics on myometrial contractility in animal models and in humans. This work aims at understanding and prevent the oxytocin-induced desensitization phenomenon, which is associated with postpartum hemorrhage, and to find appropriate pharmacotherapy in these settings.

Among many awards, Dr. Balki was recognized with the Clinician Scientist Award, Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society Research award, RA Gordon Award, and SOAP/Gertie Marx Research and Education Grant. She has received Zuspan Award from the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology for collaborative research between obstetricians and anesthesiologists on several occasions. She was also awarded the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society's annual best paper award in obstetric anesthesia and the Richard Knill competition award in many meetings.

Dr. Balki obtained her MD (Anesthesia) from Nagpur University, India, and completed fellowships in Clinical anesthesia (St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto), Neuroanesthesia (Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto), and Obstetric anesthesia (Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto). She has published more than 75 peer-reviewed primary research articles.