He travelled to United States and England and received training from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center during 1951–1955 and Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1955.

Dr. Balu Sankaran taught few months in the Department of Anatomy at KMC Manipal before joining AIIMS Delhi.

Sankaran began his career as an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 1956.

While working in AIIMS, he conducted basic medical research as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at University of Chicago in United States.

[5] He received Padma Shri award in 1972 for the trauma care and rehabilitation provided to soldiers injured in 1971 Bangladesh war, while stationed at Safdarjung Hospital.