Dr. Margie Balfour is a psychiatrist and national leader in crisis care, quality improvement, outcome measurement, and law enforcement responses to behavioral health emergencies. As the founder of MultiPass Consulting, she helps communities and organizations across the country develop and improve their behavioral health crisis systems. 

Dr. Balfour also serves as an Executive Policy Advisor at Connections Health Solutions, where she previously held the role of Chief of Quality & Clinical Innovation. In that role, she led the transformation of the Crisis Response Center in Tucson into the centerpiece of a nationally recognized crisis system and played a vital role in Connections’ expansion into multiple states. 

Dr. Balfour co-authored the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s Roadmap to the Ideal Crisis System and was a key contributor to SAMHSA’s crisis service definitions and guidelines. As an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, she conducts research to advance crisis care and study its impacts on outcomes and cost. Dr. Balfour is a sought-after speaker and consultant and has served on numerous expert panels and advisory boards for SAMHSA, the DOJ, managed care organizations, regulatory bodies, professional associations, and advocacy groups. 

A native of Monroe, Louisiana, Dr. Balfour earned a BA in Biology from Johns Hopkins University, followed by an MD and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati. She completed residency and fellowship in Community Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.