Cassiana Euzebio Bittencourt

Biography

Cassiana Euzebio Bittencourt, M.D., is HS Clinical Associate Professor and Medical Director of Medical Microbiology Division, Support Services/Preanalytical Processes, and Reference Laboratories Service in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. Board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Medical Microbiology, Bittencourt received her medical degree from Universidade Metropolitana de Santos in Brazil and completed residency training in Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in São Paulo, followed by residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve and the University of South Florida, and a fellowship in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Bittencourt has served as an elected California Delegate to the College of American Pathologists House of Delegates since 2023 and is a member of multiple institutional committees, including the Epidemiology and Infection Prevention Committee and the Antibiotic Stewardship Subcommittee at UC Irvine Medical Center. She serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for several journals, including Open Forum Infectious Diseases, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Her research focuses on multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare settings, diagnostic microbiology methods, and infection prevention strategies in hospitals and nursing homes.

Bittencourt is co-author of the Color Atlas of Medical Bacteriology, Third Edition, published by the American Society for Microbiology and John Wiley in 2020. She has contributed to research published in journals such as JAMA, The New England Journal of Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, with studies examining decolonization strategies to reduce multidrug-resistant organism transmission, rapid diagnostic testing methods for bloodstream infections, and Clostridioides difficile testing algorithms. She serves as co-investigator on multiple federally funded studies, including an NIH program project examining MDRO carriage and transmission in nursing homes, and as principal investigator on an industry-sponsored study evaluating molecular diagnostics for Candida auris detection.

Education

• MD, Universidade Metropolitana de Santos-SP, Brazil, 2003
• Fellowship in Clinical Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 2016
• Residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, University of South Florida, 2015
• Residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve, 2013
• Residency in Clinical Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP, 2008

Distinctions

• Physicians of Excellence, Orange County Medical Association, 2024-2025
• Southern California Super Doctor, Rising Star, 2021-2025
• Service Excellence, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UC Irvine Health, 2020