Clarissa Halum, MD, is a Project Officer of the ‘Long-term outcomes of diagnosed tuberculosis patients in the Philippines’ which is part of the Regional Prospective Observational Research on Tuberculosis (RePORT) consortium in the Philippines under the University of the Philippines Manila National Institutes of Health – Institute of Child Health and Human Development (UPMNIH-ICHHD). Her focus is primarily on laboratory and project management.

Dr. Halum has prepared study-specific standard operating procedures, adapted the U.S.-NIH common laboratory manual of procedures locally, assisted in field management including patient recruitment planning and performed various tests. She is part of the team that perform diagnostics such as Quantiferon TB Gold Plus, Gene Xpert, and MGIT TB Culture under our institute. Additionally, she also harvests peripheral blood mononuclear cells, with the view of using these cells to possibly identify new markers for TB. She is a part of the sub-grant from U.S.-NIH in collaboration with RePORT China that studies cytokines to predict response to treatment. In the future, she plans to be involved in exploring and developing new tests and techniques in diagnosing tuberculosis.