USC.edu
Are You a Patient?

Susan Butler-Wu, PhD, D(ABMM), SM (ASCP)

Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology

Director of Medical Microbiology, LAC+USC Medical Center

Image of Susan Butler-Wu, PhD, D(ABMM), SM (ASCP)
Is this your profile? Click to edit
Email [email protected]
CTSI Profile

Overview

Dr. Butler-Wu is the Director of Clinical Microbiology at LAC+USC Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, California, USA. Dr. Butler-Wu earned her PhD in Molecular Microbiology at Tufts University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Tuberculosis Pathogenesis at New York University (NYU). After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Medical and Public Health Microbiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, she was the Associate Director of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Washington Medical Center until she moved to her current position. Dr. Butler-Wu’s research focuses on rapid diagnostics for infectious diseases. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, and serves on working groups of both the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology.

Publications

  • Reply to Datta, “Is static or cidal antibiotic falsifiable?” Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2025 Nov 05; 69(11):e0139125. Spellberg B, Wald-Dickler N , Holtom P, Meyer-Sautter P, Camp A, Diaz AD, Buhama . View in PubMed
  • Static vs. cidal: it’s not complex; it’s simply incorrect. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2025 Aug 06; 69(8):e0051325.. View in PubMed
  • ‘What’s in a name? Fit-for-purpose bacterial nomenclature’: meeting report. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2025 Jul; 75(7).. View in PubMed
  • Bridging Gaps in Congenital Syphilis Care: A Quality Improvement Initiative for Comprehensive Management at a Large Public Hospital in Los Angeles, California, USA. Sex Transm Dis. 2025 Sep 01; 52(9):529-534.. View in PubMed
  • Validation of a modified rapid test to detect the cefazolin inoculum effect in methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus from bloodstream infections in hospitals from North and Latin America. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2025 May 02; 80(5):1437-1444.. View in PubMed
  • The role of plasma metagenomic sequencing in identification of Balamuthia mandrillaris encephalitis. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2025 03 13; 13(1):60.. View in PubMed
  • Plasmodium vivax Infections among Immigrants from China Traveling to the United States. Emerg Infect Dis. 2024 Jul; 30(7):1477-1479.. View in PubMed
  • Home and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-Waived Testing for Infectious Diseases-How Do These Fit in the Testing Landscape? Clin Lab Med. 2024 03; 44(1):13-21. Lu J, Butler-Wu SM . View in PubMed
  • Multicenter evaluation of the BIOFIRE Joint Infection Panel for the detection of bacteria, yeast, and AMR genes in synovial fluid samples. J Clin Microbiol. 2023 11 21; 61(11):e0035723.. View in PubMed
  • Exploring the Utility of Multiplex Infectious Disease Panel Testing for Diagnosis of Infection in Different Body Sites: A Joint Report of the Association for Molecular Pathology, American Society for Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Society of America, and Pan American Society for Clinical Virology. J Mol Diagn. 2023 12; 25(12):857-875.. View in PubMed

Similar People