Clinical Pathology

Division of Clinical Microbiology

Welcome to Clinical Microbiology! The Division of Clinical Microbiology is staffed with 32 FTEs who provide expert services in infectious disease laboratory diagnostics. The Division offers a comprehensive menu of tests, with 750,000 billable tests performed annually. Our laboratory division consists of six sections or subspecialties: bacteriology, mycobacteriology, immunology, molecular microbiology, mycology, and parasitology. Most sections of the laboratory provide services 7 days a week, to meet the patient care needs of the UTMB Health System. Critical services are provided 24 hours a day.

Testing capabilities in the Clinical Microbiology Division include state-of-the-art, automated instrumentation used for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi, serologic assays, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and nucleic acid amplification methods such as reverse-transcription PCR and strand-displacement amplification. A variety of stain and microscopic morphologic identification, culture methods, and phenotypic and genotypic identification methods are also utilized.

Three doctorate level faculty members, Drs. Natalie Williams-Bouyer, Ping Ren and Rong Fang provide technical, clinical, and administrative oversight of the Division. Division faculty are also actively engaged in various research activities, often in collaboration with faculty from other UTMB departments, as well as outside institutions.

In addition to the division faculty, key lab management staff members include:

NameTitlePhone NumberEmail Address
Jean Houk, MLS(ASCP)SMCMLab Services, Microbiology Manager409-772-1312 jmhouk@utmb.edu
Jennifer Bertsch, MLS (ASCP)CMLab Services, Clinical Microbiology
Manager
409-772-1312jabertsch@utmb.edu
Paula Clarner, MT(ASCP)Lab Services, Clinical Microbiology
Laboratory Technical Supervisor
409-772-4722 prclarne@utmb.edu
Kelli McMullen, SM(ASCP)CM, H CM, C CM Lab Services, Clinical Microbiology
Laboratory Technical Supervisor
409-772-4753 kesimone@utmb.edu