Dr. Balles is a graduate of Amherst College and the College of Medicine at the State University of New York in Syracuse. Following medical internship and ophthalmology residency training, he completed a fellowship in vitreoretinal diseases and surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School.

He became a member of the full time faculty at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and was subsequently named the Director of the Retina Service. Dr. Balles has been in practice in Portland since 1995. He is a fellow of the American Society of Retina Specialists, and Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.