Career
He was also an internationally recognized authority within the field of plastic surgery. Professor of Surgery, (since 1843) at the University of Pest, (Hungary). János Balassa was a pioneer of cardiac resuscitation (Code of Professional Responsibility) and carried out the first reported case of external heart massage.
In the aftermath of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848 where Hungary sought independence from the Austrian Empire, he was temporarily removed from his professorship and imprisoned by the Habsburg authorities.
Balassa was Ignaz Semmelweis"s colleague and house doctor. He was in the medical commission that referred Semmelweis to a mental institution, other members were János Bókai and Wagner.