Faculty

Education

1. M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1994

2. Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1994

Residency

1. Clinical Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1996-1998

Fellowship

1. Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 1996-1999

Post-doctoral Training

1. Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997-1999

Specialty

1. Pathology

2. Clinical Pathology

3. Molecular Genetic Pathology

Board Certification

1. Registered Physician, Medical License #L4157. Issued by Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, Austin, TX. Effective 2002 - present

Area of Interest

1. Both Research and Clinical

Current Position

1. Head, Department of Pathology, Texas Children's Hospital

2. Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics

3. Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology

4. Associate Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics

5. Co-Director, Medical Scientist (MD-PhD) Training Program

6. Director of Microbiology Laboratories, Texas Children's Hospital

7. Director, Division of Molecular Pathology, Texas Children's Hospital

Professional Positions Held

1. Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Northeastern University, 1998 - 2000

2. Assistant Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 1999 - 2001

3. Investigator, Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Harvard Medical School, 1999 - 2001

4. Assistant Pathologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1999 - 2001

5. Assistant Director of Microbiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1999 - 2001

6. Director of Molecular Diagnostics, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2000 - 2001

7. Adjunct Associate Professor of Biomedical Science, Northeastern University, 2000 - 2006

8. Director, Molecular Genetic Pathology Fellowship Program

Other Positions

1. Faculty, Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Baylor College of Medicine

2. Faculty, Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine Program, Baylor College of Medicine

3. Member, Biology of Inflammation Center, Baylor College of Medicine

4. Faculty Research Mentor, Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship Program, Baylor College of Medicine

5. Member, Internal Advisory Committee, Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center, Baylor College of Medicine

6. Co-Director, Functional Genomics and Proteomics Core, Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center, Baylor College of Medicine

7. Vice President of Research, Board of Trustees, Houston Gulf Coast/South Texas Chapter, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America

8. Director (on Board of Directors), International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics

Honors and Awards

1. Kenneth L. Burdon Award in Microbiology and Immunology, 1988

2. High Honors in Medical School Basic Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, 1989

3. Sheard Sanford Student Award, American Society of Clinical Pathologists, 1993

4. M.D. with Honors, 1995

5. Young Scientist Award, European Helicobacter pylori Study Group, 1999

6. ICAAC Young Investigator Award, American Society for Microbiology, 1999

7. Lansky Award, College of American Pathologists (CAP) Foundation, 2005

8. BioGaia Ivan Casas Probiotics Award, 2007

Membership on professional organizations

1. American Gastroenterological Association

2. American Society for Microbiology

3. American Society of Clinical Pathology (Fellow)

4. Association for Molecular Pathology

5. College of American Pathologists (Fellow)

6. Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (Member)

7. International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (on Board of Directors)

8. North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

9. Society for Microbial Ecology and Disease

10. Society of Pediatric Pathology

11. National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry

Representative Publications

1. Zhang WW, Versalovic J. Expanding the diagnostic capabilities of molecular microbiology by genomic methods. J Mol Diagn. 2007;9:572-3

2. Versalovic J. Probiotics: intestinal gatekeeping, immunomodulation, and hepatic injury. Hepatol. 2007;46:618-21

3. Luna RA, Fasciano LR, Jones SC, Boyanton BL, Ton TT, Versalovic J. DNA pyrosequencing-based bacterial pathogen identification in a pediatric hospital setting. J Clin Microbiol. 2007;45:2985-92

4. Versalovic J, Relman D. How bacterial communities expand functional repertoires. PLOS Biology. 2006;4:2193-2195

5. Guarner F, Bourdet-Sicard R, Brandtzaeg P, Gill HS, McGuirk P, van Eden W, Versalovic J, Weinstock JV, Rook GAW. Mechanisms of disease: the hygiene hypothesis re-visited. Nat Clin Pract Gastroenterol & Hepatol. 2006;3:275-284

6. Peña JA, Rogers AB, Ge Z, Ng V, Li SY, Fox JG and Versalovic J. Probiotic Lactobacillus diminishes Helicobacter hepaticus-induced inflammatory bowel disease in IL-10-deficient mice. Infect Immun. 2005;73:912-920

7. Healy M, Huong J, Bittner T, Lising M, Frye S, Raza S, Schrook R, Manry J, Renwick A, Nieto R, Woods C, Versalovic J, and Lupski J. Microbial DNA typing by automated repetitive-sequence-based PCR. J Clin Microb. 2005;43:199-207

8. Boyanton B, Noroski LM, Reddy H, Dishop MK, Hicks MJ, Versalovic J, Moylett E. Burkholderia gladioli osteomyelitis in association with chronic granulomatous disease: A case report and review. Ped Infect Dis J. 2005; 24:837-839

9. Kaplan SL, Hulten KG, Gonzalez BE, Hammerman W, Lamberth L, Versalovic J, and Mason EO. Three-Year Surveillance of Community-Acquired Staphylococcus aureus Infections in Children. Clin Inf Dis. 2005;40:1785-1791

10. Peña JA, Li SY, Wilson PH, Thibodeau S, Szary AJ, and Versalovic J. Genotypic and phenotypic studies of murine intestinal lactobacilli: species differences in mice with and without colitis. Appl and Environ Microb. 2004;70:558-568

11. Pena JA and Versalovic J. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG decreases TNF-? production in lipopolysaccharide-activated murine macrophages by a contact-independent mechanism. Cellular Microbiology 2003;5:277-285