Clinical Chemistry : A Practical Learning and Teaching Toolkit

This book is a toolkit for teaching a course on the pathophysiology of disease and how the most widely utilized laboratory tests can be used to diagnose these conditions.  Tests for the major common diseases are presented by organ system.  It is also a study guide for students and trainees as they prepare for their respective board examinations. Each topic includes  succinct text focusing on a disease topic along with a set of PowerPoint lecture slides and clinical cases (with answers). The toolkit also contains instructions for preparing the teaching laboratories for the course, a comprehensive list of differential diagnoses for the most frequent clinical chemistry abnormalities, discussion of selected cases taken by pathology residents while on night-call, and quiz questions (with answers). Analytical methodology is not presented unless it is important in understanding the test. This third edition includes updated material on tumor markers, Alzheimer’s disease markers, markers for pre-eclampsia, additional drugs for which therapeutic monitoring is available, and biomarkers for ethanol abuse, among others.

The comprehensive toolkit is the result of more than 40 years of teaching an introductory course in clinical chemistry to second-year medical students at the University of California San Diego. Elements of this book have also been used in teaching UC San Diego clinical laboratory scientist training program students, pharmacy students, clinical chemistry postdoctoral fellows, and pathology residents. This work has been previously published in two editions (2017 and 2021) by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Press under the title “Practical Laboratory Diagnosis of Disease: Clinical Chemistry.”

David N. Bailey is a University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Pharmacy Emeritus, Vice Chair for Education and Academic Affairs in the Department of Pathology, and Deputy Dean at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Prior leadership positions have included service as Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine at UC San Diego and at UC Irvine, Chair of the Department of Pathology at UC San Diego, and Director of Clinical Laboratories for UC San Diego Health. His honors include the Gerald T. Evans Award (Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists), the University of California Regent Edward Dickson Professorship Award, being named one of the top ten most cited authors in forensic sciences (1981-93) (Science Watch), and a University of California Presidential Commendation for Distinguished Service. His leadership of professional organizations has included the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (President), California Association of Toxicologists (President), and the Association of Pathology Chairs (Chair, Senior Fellows Group). He has served on multiple advisory and governing boards of organizations and healthcare systems. Several conference rooms at the University and in the San Diego community have been named in his honor. Over his career David Bailey has mentored hundreds of faculty, trainees, and staff in both formal mentorship programs as well as on an informal basis, and he considers this activity to be one of the most important highlights of his career.

Robert L. Fitzgerald is a University of California (UC) San Diego Professor of Clinical Pathology, Director of the Toxicology Laboratory, and Associate Director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of UC San Diego Health.  He is also Director of the UC San Diego Clinical Chemistry Fellowship, accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Clinical Chemistry (ComACC).

He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Loyola College (now University) and his Ph.D degree in pharmacology from the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University). He is certified in Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Toxicology (American Board of Clinical Chemistry).

Dr. Fitzgerald’s research interests include evaluation of the clinical utility of cardiovascular biomarkers, novel applications of mass spectrometry in the clinical laboratory, and determination of the effects of cannabis on driving performance. He has published more than 100 research articles in the field of clinical chemistry and toxicology.

He is active on multiple committees and in numerous organizations in clinical chemistry and toxicology and has been teaching clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine to postdoctoral fellows, pathology residents, and doctor of pharmacy students for more than twenty years.