Julia Z. Xu, MD, MScGH

Office Location
BST W1061

Email: xujz2@upmc.edu

Phone: 412-624-1074

Assistant:
Linda Mazefsky mazefskyl2@upmc.edu
412-648-6466

Department of Medicine Profile

UPMC Profile

Twitter @JuliaXuMD

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Section of Benign Hematology

Bio

Dr. Xu is an adult hematologist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, specializing in the care of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). She has conducted studies of the trajectory of renal function decline in SCD and led clinical trials evaluating novel drug therapies for the treatment of patients with SCD.

She has a longstanding interest in both red cell disorders and global health, having completed combined internal medicine-global health residency training and a Master of Science in Global health degree at Duke University. She was awarded a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Research Fellowship to carry out an epidemiological study of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency in a Dominican HIV clinic, as well as a Fogarty International Center Research Fellowship to study the feasibility of and barriers to thalassemia screening in migrant populations in Thailand.

Research Interests

Dr. Xu’s research focuses on new drug therapies and biomarkers for improving anemia and other chronic complications in SCD. She is dedicated to improving anemia-related outcomes for individuals living with SCD in the US and globally by optimizing treatment strategies for anemia and expanding global access to treatments.

Keywords

Sickle cell disease, thalassemia, hemoglobin disorders, red cell disorders, erythropoiesis, rheology, global health, clinical trials, translational research, biomarker development

Education and Training

BA, University of Pennsylvania, 2009
MS, University of Pennsylvania, 2009
MD, Columbia University, 2014
MScGH, Duke University, 2018

Internal Medicine-Global Health Residency, Duke University, 2014-2018
Hematology Fellowship, National Institutes of Health, 2018-2020
Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Institutes of Health, 2020-2021

Selected/Representative Publications

For a complete bibliography, click here.

View Selected Papers

Xu JZ, Thein SL. Revisiting anemia in sickle cell disease and finding the balance with therapeutic approaches. Blood. 2022 May 19;139(20):3030-3039. doi: 10.1182/blood.2021013873. PMID: 35587865.

Xu JZ, Conrey AK, Frey IC, Gwaabe E, Menapace LA, Tumburu L, Lundt M, Lequang T, Li Q, Glass KE, Dunkelberger EB, Iyer V, Mangus H, Kung C, Dang L, Kosinski PA, Hawkins P, Jeffries N, Eaton WA, Thein SL. A Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study of the Pyruvate Kinase Activator Mitapivat (AG-348) in Sickle Cell Disease. Blood. 2022 May 16:blood.2022015403. doi: 10.1182/blood.2022015403. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35576529.

Xu JZ, Tanongsaksakul W, Suksangpleng T, Ekwattanakit S, Riolueang S, Telen MJ, Viprakasit V. Feasibility of and barriers to thalassemia screening in migrant populations: a cross-sectional study of Myanmar and Cambodian migrants in Thailand. BMC Public Health. 2021 Jun 21;21(1):1177. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11059-2. PMID: 34154562; PMCID: PMC8215823.

Xu JZ, Garrett ME, Soldano KL, Chen ST, Clish CB, Ashley-Koch AE, Telen MJ. Clinical and metabolomic risk factors associated with rapid renal function decline in sickle cell disease. Am J Hematol. 2018 Dec;93(12):1451-1460. doi: 10.1002/ajh.25263. Epub 2018 Sep 27. PMID: 30144150; PMCID: PMC6397774.

Xu JZ, Francis RO, Lerebours Nadal LE, Shirazi M, Jobanputra V, Hod EA, Jhang JS, Stotler BA, Spitalnik SL, Nicholas SW. G6PD Deficiency in an HIV Clinic Setting in the Dominican Republic. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2015 Oct;93(4):722-9. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0295. Epub 2015 Aug 3. PMID: 26240158; PMCID: PMC4596589.