Clinical Pathology

Division of Clinical Microbiology

Welcome to Clinical Microbiology! The Division of Clinical Microbiology is staffed with 28.4 FTEs who provide expert services in infectious disease laboratory diagnostics. The Division offers a comprehensive menu of tests, with 500,000 billable tests annually. Our laboratory division consists of six sections or subspecialties: bacteriology, mycobacteriology, immunology, molecular diagnostics, 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 Division of Clinical Microbiology include a variety of stain and microscopic morphologic identification, culture methods, and phenotypic and genotypic identification methods. State-of-the-art, automated instrumentation is used for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi, serologic assays, and nucleic acid amplification methods such as reverse-transcription PCR and strand-displacement amplification.

Three doctorate level faculty members, Drs. Natalie Williams-Bouyer, Ping Ren and Fang Rong 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.

Natalie Williams-Bouyer, PhD

Natalie Williams-Bouyer, PhD, D(ABMM)
Associate Professor of Pathology
Director
Division of Clinical Microbiology
Department of Pathology

Office: (409) 747-0603
nmwillia@utmb.edu

 

Ping Ren, PhD

Ping Ren, PhD, D(ABMM)
Associate Professor
Associate Director
Division of Clinical Microbiology
Department of Pathology

Office: (409) 772-5109
piren@utmb.edu

Rong Fang, MD, PhD

Rong Fang, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Assistant Director
Division of Clinical Microbiology
Department of Pathology

Office: (409) 772-4817
rofang@utmb.edu

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

NameTitlePhone NumberEmail Address
Jean Houk, MT(ASCP)SM Lab Services, Clinical Microbiology
Manager
409-772-1312jmhouk@utmb.edu
Kimberly Bufton, MT(ASCP) Lab Services, Clinical Microbiology
Laboratory Technical Supervisor
409-772-0252 kkbufton@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