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Nam K. Tran, Ph.D.

Professor of Pathology, Associate Dean of Biobanking, Medical Director of Point of Care Testing

Clinical Expertise

Dr. Tran is a board-certified high complexity laboratory director (HCLD) through the American Board of Bioanalysis. His personal mission is to develop, evaluate, and implement cutting-edge biosensor technologies to advance laboratory medicine and expand access to care. Dr. Tran’s clinical work focuses on creating synergistic diagnostic pathways that integrate highly automated centralized testing with mobile, near-patient, and point-of-care solutions.

As an HCLD-boarded laboratory scientist, he has broad expertise across all technical domains of clinical pathology. His primary areas of specialization include clinical chemistry, molecular infectious disease testing, and point-of-care diagnostics.

Certifications

  • High Complexity Laboratory Director (HCLD), American Board of Bioanalysis, 2016
  • Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS) / Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS), American Society for Clinical Pathology, 2021

Specialties

Clinical Chemistry, Point-of-Care Testing, Total Laboratory Automation, Biobanking

Education & Training

  • BS – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 2003
  • PhD – Comparative Pathology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 2008
  • Postdoc – National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Point-of-Care Technologies Center at UC Davis, Davis, CA 2011
  • MS – Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 2011
  • MAS – Clinical Research (NIH K30 MCRTP), University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, 2013

Awards

  • National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry Distinguished Abstract Award, 2012
  • UC Davis School of Medicine Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2014
    American Association for Clinical Chemistry Outstanding Speaker Award, 2016
    Resident Teaching Award, Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UC Davis Health, 2017
  • Outstanding Research Abstract, International Critical and Point-of-Care Testing (CPOCT) Meeting, American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), 2018
    UC Davis Health Chief of Staff Award (in recognition for COVID-19 testing), 2020
  • The Pathologist Power List, Awarded for COVID-19 Testing Role (https://thepathologist.com/power-list/2021/frontline-and-center/nam-tran), 2021
  • Parade Marshall, UC Davis 108th Picnic Day Parade (honoring COVID-19 response), April 23, 2022
  • Professionalism Award, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UC Davis Health, 2023
  • UC Davis Health “Good Catch Recognition” Award, 2023
  • UC Davis School of Medicine Dean’s Award for Excellence in Team Inclusion, 2023
Research Interests

Dr. Tran’s research focuses on the development and implementation of novel point-of-care solutions for acute care settings, particularly in the areas of whole blood analysis, tissue injury biomarkers, sepsis diagnostics, and the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into mobile testing platforms.

He is also broadly interested in research that demonstrates the value of laboratory medicine and is committed to advancing patient-centered diagnostic innovation. This includes building integrated pipelines that connect biobanking, advanced diagnostic testing, and data science to support the development of next-generation diagnostic technologies.

Representative Publications

Complete publication list can be found at NCBI:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/nam.tran.1/bibliography/public/

Asterisk (*) indicates role as corresponding/senior author.

  1. Howell E, Sen S, Palmieri TL, Godwin Z, Bockhold J, Greenhalgh DG, Tran NK*. Point-of-care B-type natriuretic peptide and neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin measurements for acute resuscitation: a pilot study. J Burn Care Res 2015;36:e26-e33.
  2. Sen S, Godwin Z, Steele A, Palmieri T, Greenhalgh D, Tran NK*. Serum NGAL is an early predictor of acute kidney injury during resuscitation for severe burn injury. J Surg Res 2015;196:382-7
  3. Tran NK*, Godwin Z, Steele AN, et al. Clinical impact of accurate point-of-care glucose monitoring for tight glycemic control in severely burned children. Ped Crit Care Med 2016;17:3406-412.
  4. Dubois JA, Slingerland, RJ, Fokkert M, Roman A, Tran NK, Clarke W, Palmieri TL, Lyon ME, Lyon AW. Bedside glucose monitoring—is it safe? A new, regulatory-compliant risk assessment evaluation protocol in critically ill patient care settings. Crit Care Med 2017;45:567-574.
  5. Howell S, Mumma B, Amsterdam E, Lopez J, Tran NK*. Implementation of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin: international practices as a brief for the United States. Crit Path Card 2018;17:173-178.
  6. Tran NK*, Sen S, Palmieri TL, Lima K, Falwell S, Rashidi H. Artificial intelligence and machine learning for predicting acute kidney injury in severely burned patients: A proof of concept. Burns 2019;45:1350-1358.
  7. Fricke S, Pourtabib, J, Madsen J, Chizari S, Phan J, Tran NK, Augustine M. Estimation of blood plasma water content using portable NMR relaxometry. Meas Sci Technol 2019;31:035701.
  8. Rashidi HH, Sen S, Palmieri TL, Blackmon T, Wayda J, Tran NK*. Early recognition of burn- and trauma-related acute kidney injury: A pilot comparison of machine learning techniques. Sci Rep 2020;10:205.
  9. Mumma BE, Casey SD, Dang RK, Polen MK, Kaur JC, Rodrigo J, Tancredi DJ, Naverud R, Amsterdam EA, Tran NK*. Diagnostic reclassification by high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assay. Ann Emerg Med 2020;76:566-579.
  10. Tran NK*, Albahra S, Pham TN, Holmes JH, Greenhalgh DG, Palmieri TL, Wajda J, Rashidi HH. Novel application of an automated-machine learning development tool for predicting burn sepsis: Proof of concept. Sci Rep 2020;10:12354.
  11. Rashidi HH, Makley A, Palmieri TL, Albahra S, Loegering J, Fang L, Yamaguchi K, Gerlach T, Rodriquez D, Tran NK*. Enhancing military burn- and trauma-related acute kidney injury prediction through an automated machine learning platform and point-of-care Testing. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2021;145:320-326.
  12. Hansen G, Marino J, Wang ZX, Beavis KG, Rodrigo J, Labog K, Westblade LF, Jin R, Love N, Ding K, Garg S, Huang A, Sickler J, Tran NK*. Clinical performance of the point-of-care Cobas Liat for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in 20 minutes: A multicenter study. J Clin Microbiol 2021;59:e02811-20.
  13. Tran NK*, Howard T, Walsh R, Pepper J, Loegering J, Phinney B, Salemi M, Rashidi HH. Novel application of automated machine learning with MALDI-TOF-MS for rapid high-throughput screening of COVID-19: A proof of concept. Sci Rep 2021;11:8219.
  14. Lima K, Davis R, Liu S, Greenhalgh DG, Tran NK*. Longitudinal profiling of the burn patient cutaneous and gastrointestional microbioata. Sci Rep 2021;11:10667
  15. Tran NK*, Albahra S, May L, Waldman S, Crabtree S, Bainbridge S, Rashidi H. Evolving applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in infectious disease testing. Clin Chem 2021;68:125-133.
  16. Tran NK*, Albahra S, Rashidi H, May L. Innovations in infectious disease testing: Leveraging COVID-19 pandemic technologies for the future. Clin Biochem 2022;117:10-15.
  17. Tran NK*, Kretsch C, LaValley C, Rashidi HH. Machine learning and artificial intelligence for the diagnosis of infectious diseases in immunocompromised patients. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2023;36:235-242.
  18. Tran NK*, LaValley C, Bagley B, Rodrigo J. Point of care blood glucose devices in the hospital setting. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2023;60:290-299.
  19. O’Toole HJ, Lowe N, Arun V, Kolesov AV, Palmieri TL, Tran NK, Carney RP. Plasma-derived Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) as Biomarkers of Sepsis in Burn Patients via Label-free Raman Spectroscopy. J Extra Ves 2024 Sep;13(9):e12506.
  20. Shaw JLV, Bannuru RR, Beach L, ElSayed NA, Freckmann G, Füzéry AK, Fung AWS, Gilbert J, Huang Y, Korpi-Steiner N, Logan S, Longo R, MacKay D, Maks L, Pleus S, Rogers K, Seley JJ, Taxin Z, Thompson-Hutchison F, Tolan NV, Tran NK, Umpierrez GE, Venner AA. Consensus Considerations and Good Practice Points for Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems in Hospital Settings. Diabetes Care. 2024 Dec 1;47(12):2062-2075.
  21. Chenoweth JA, LaValley CK, Eberhardt CS, Colby DK, Albertson TE, Tran NK*. Cost-Effective Drug Testing: Analytical Methodology, Best Practices, and Clinical Utility. J Appl Lab Med. 2025 Jan 3;10(1):92-112.
  22. Goodman M, Bercker S, Breitenbeck N, Canada-Vilalta C, Canepa DD, Clarke WA, Farnsworth CW, Ganser EO, Geerts N, Goldsmith B, Headden G, Hoppensteadt D, Klapperich B, Matika R, Miles G, Mukhopadhyay S, Nichols JH, O'Dell RM, Rafique Z, Schuetzenmeister A, Slingerland R, Stankiewicz AF, Swanson JR, Tran NK, Wu AHB, Karon BS. Multicenter Evaluation of a New Strip-Based Blood Glucose System for Point-of-Care Testing in Critical and Non-Critical Care Settings. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2025 May 31;:19322968251325873