Charlene Bierl, MD, PhD
Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Vice Chair for Quality & Patient Safety
Director, Division of Laboratory Medicine
Contact InformationHospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
7 Founders Pavilion
3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: 215-662-3435
Email: charlene.bierl@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Specialty Division
Laboratory Medicine
Clinical Expertise
General Clinical Pathology and laboratory operations – Dr. Bierl has served as a CLIA director in a number of settings, covering high complexity testing. Her responsibilities involve close collaboration with operations to ensure high quality, patient-centered care from the laboratory. Under this umbrella, she am particularly interested in cost effective utilization of laboratory resources. This includes design of the test menu/names in the EHR, decision support to guide test selection, optimization of the resulting formats and decision guidance, as well as efforts to influence utilization patterns toward the latest recommendations.
Education
BA (Molecular Biology and Biochemistry), Wesleyan University, 1996
MD (Medicine), Boston University, 2005
PhD (Pharmacology), Boston University, 2005
Specialty Certification
Clinical Pathology and Transfusion Medicine, American Board of Pathology, 2009
Postgraduate Training
Resident, Clinical Pathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2005-08
Chief Resident, Clinical Pathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2007
Fellow, Transfusion Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2008-09
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification, Villanova University (online), 2011-12
Awards and Honors
Deans Fellowship, Full Tuition Scholarship for Medical School, Boston University, 1995
Hughes Fellowship for Summer Research, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 1995
William Pepper Fellowship for Outstanding Contributions to the Clinical Lab, University of Pennsylvania, 2008
Co-Winner, Leonard Jarrett Poster Symposium, University of Pennsylvania, 2009
Outstanding Poster Award, AACC Proteomics Conference on "Translating Novel Biomarkers," Bethesda, MD, 2009
Outstanding Service Award from the Medical Staff of Cooper University Healthcare, Camden, NJ, 2013
Volunteer Faculty Award, Department of Pathology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of Rutgers University, 2015
Choosing Wisely Champion, American Society of Clinical Pathology, 2019
Chairman's Award, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 2023
Memberships and Professional Organizations
American Association of Clinical Chemistry, 2007-16
American Association of Blood Banks, 2008-17
College of American Pathology, 2011-present
New Jersey Association of Blood Bank, 2013-15
American Red Cross, 2013-16
American Society of Clinical Pathology, 2015-present
Quest Diagnostics, 2019-20
TRUU-Lab, a national organization devoted to optimization and clarity of test names, 2019-present
Web Links
Selected Publications
Simplifying the Test Menu to Beat Choice Overload
Bierl C. AACC/Clinical Laboratory News, Jan/Feb 2022.
Implementation of Laboratory Review of Test Builds Within the Electronic Health Record Reduces Errors
Barry C, Edmonston TB, Gandhi S, Ganti K, Kim N, Bierl C. Arch Pathol Lab Med 144(6):742-747, Jun 2020. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2019-0239-OA. Epub 2019 Oct 24. PMID: 31647317.
Optimization of the Order Menu in the Electronic Health Record Facilitates Test Patterns Consistent With Recommendations in the Choosing Wisely Initiative
Barry C, Kaufman S, Feinstein D, Kim N, Gandhi S, Nikolic D, Edmonston TB, Bierl C. Am J Clin Pathol 153(1):94-98, Jan 2020. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/aqz134. PMID: 31433839
Cost per Case Mix Index-Adjusted Hospital Day as a Measure of Effective Laboratory Utilization Efforts in a Growing Academic Medical Center
Behling KC, Bierl C. Am J Clin Pathol 151(4):371-376, Mar 2019. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/aqy152. PMID: 30423021.
Spotlight Interview with Cooper University Hospital’s Director of Laboratories
Laboratory Economics 13(7), 2018.
Impact of weekly feedback on test ordering patterns
Minerowicz C, Abel N, Hunter K, Behling KC, Cerceo E, Bierl C. Am J Manag Care 21(11):763-8, Nov 2015. PMID: 26633250.
Decreased clinical laboratory turnaround time after implementation of a collection manager system
Behling KC, Marrone D, Hunter K, Bierl C. Arch Pathol Lab Med 139(9):1084-6, Sep 2015. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2014-0529-LE. PMID: 26317450.
Short-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme a dehydrogenase associates with a protein super-complex integrating multiple metabolic pathways
Narayan SB, Master SR, Sireci AN, Bierl C, Stanley PE, Li C, Stanley CA, Bennett MJ. PLoS One 7(4):e35048, 2012. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035048. Epub 2012 Apr 9. PMID: 22496890; PMCID: PMC3322157.
Unbiased statistical analysis for multi-stage proteomic search strategies
Everett LJ, Bierl C, Master SR. J Proteome Res 9(2):700-7, Feb 2010. doi: 10.1021/pr900256v. PMID: 19947654.
Erythrocytosis-associated HIF-2alpha mutations demonstrate a critical role for residues C-terminal to the hydroxylacceptor proline
Furlow PW, Percy MJ, Sutherland S, Bierl C, McMullin MF, Master SR, Lappin TR, Lee FS. J Biol Chem 284(14):9050-8, Apr 2009. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M808737200. Epub 2009 Feb 10. PMID: 19208626; PMCID: PMC2666553.
