Ellen Jo Baron

Clinical Focus

• Pathology
• Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Administrative Appointments

• Associate Chair of Pathology for Faculty Development, Department of Pathology (2006 - present)
• Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Stanford Univ. Med. Center (1999 - present)

Honors and Awards

• Kenneth L. Vosti, M.D. Teaching Award, Stanford Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine (2003)
• BioMerieux Vitek Sonnenwirth Award, American Society for Microbiology (2000)
• Alice C. Evans Award, American Society for Microbiology (1997)
• Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology (1987 - present)
• Fellow, Infectious Diseases Society of America (1992)

Professional Education

Community & International Work

• Diagnostic Microbiology Development Program, Cambodia, Africa, India, Malaysia, others 

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industry partners. It is our policy to disclose payments of $5,000 or more, equity valued at $5,000 or more in a publicly traded company, or any equity in a privately held company, to physicians and scientists employed by Stanford University from companies or other commercial entities with which they interact as part of their professional activities. View Full Information

Research Interests

In the Microbiology laboratory, we evaluate cutting-edge new technology for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, and we work with high-tech companies to help them develop new diagnostic assays at the pre-market stage. We do not perform basic research and we do not have any fellowship support. Recent work includes development of a rapid PCR-based method for identifying the species of most mycobacteria directly from smear or culture positive material within hours. Another project is showing that hair sheep blood drawn into citrated blood bank bags is equivalent to defibrinated wool sheep blood for diagnostic microbiological testing. This knowledge is important for developing world microbiology laboratories to perform reliable work.

Publications

• Comparison of real-time PCR and conventional biochemical methods for identification of Staphylococcus lugdunensis. Pinsky BA, Samson D, Ghafghaichi L, Baron EJ, Banaei N. J Clin Microbiol. 2009; 47 (11): 3472-7
• Expert opinion: what to do when there is Coccidioides exposure in a laboratory. Stevens DA, Clemons KV, Levine HB, Pappagianis D, Baron EJ, Hamilton JR, Deresinski SC, Johnson N. Clin Infect Dis. 2009; 49 (6): 919-23
• Mixed infection involving Actinomyces, Aggregatibacter, and Fusobacterium species presenting as perispinal tumor. Ghafghaichi L, Troy S, Budvytiene I, Banaei N, Baron EJ. Anaerobe. 2009
• Hair sheep blood, citrated or defibrinated, fulfills all requirements of blood agar for diagnostic microbiology laboratory tests. Yeh E, Pinsky BA, Banaei N, Baron EJ. PLoS One. 2009; 4 (7): e6141
• Multiplex pathogen identification for polymicrobial urinary tract infections using biosensor technology: a prospective clinical study. Mach KE, Du CB, Phull H, Haake DA, Shih MC, Baron EJ, Liao JC. J Urol. 2009; 182 (6): 2735-41