Researchers
Yan Xu

Yan Xu

MD, FRCPC, MSc

Associate Scientist, Acute Care Research

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Hematologist, Department of Medicine

The Ottawa Hospital

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

University of Ottawa

Contact

yaxu@toh.ca
ORCID 0000-0001-7429-4724
@IMYanXu

Bio

Dr. Yan Xu is a clinician-scientist and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Thrombosis at the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. His expertise spans venous thromboembolism (VTE), anticoagulation, bleeding risk prediction, and health equity in thrombosis care. He leads an interdisciplinary research program focused on improving diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of VTE, particularly among racialized and linguistically diverse populations who experience systemic barriers to high-quality care.

Dr. Xu has a track record of impactful scholarship, with first- or senior-author publications in leading journals including JAMA, BMJ, Blood, Chest, and Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. He has secured over $1.2 million in competitive funding as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator, including support from CIHR, Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and international societies. His program integrates epidemiology, administrative databases, systematic reviews, and patient-partnered methods to inform precision risk prediction and equitable care delivery.

A committed mentor, Dr. Xu supervises trainees across graduate, medical, and undergraduate levels, many of whom have achieved awards and national presentations. He also contributes to national and international leadership roles, including serving on the CHEST VTE Prevention Guideline Panel.

Research Goals and Interests

Anticoagulant safety; Venous thromboembolism; Health disparities; Thrombotic conditions in racialized populations.

Dr. Xu's research program seeks to optimize the risks and benefits of anticoagulants in the prevention and treatment of arterial and venous thromboembolism among racialized populations, with aims to characterize, understand, and address systemic inequities across the spectrum of thrombosis research and clinical care. His active areas of inquiry include: 

1. Racial equity in pregnancy-associated venous thromboembolism

2. Impact of thrombo-inflammation on racial and ethnic differences in thrombosis outcomes

3. Perspectives on thrombosis diagnosis, management and research participation among underrepresented ethnoracial communities

 

News

Publications

Effect of PCC on thrombin generation in patients on FXaI with bleeding or needing urgent surgery (GAUGE)

2026-08-11 Go to publication

Between a clot and a hard place: role of FXIa inhibition

2026-08-06 Go to publication

Performance status and outcomes in patients with cancer receiving thromboprophylaxis: a subanalysis of the AVERT trial

2026-07-22 Go to publication

Post-COVID-19 pandemic inequities in routine childhood immunization in Canada: racial disparities in uptake of polio, meningococcal conjugate, and varicella vaccines.

2026-07-20 Go to publication

Elevated on-treatment D-dimer level is associated with major bleeding during extended anticoagulation for venous thromboembolism.

2026-07-16 Go to publication
View More on ORCiD

Principal Investigator / Co-Principal Investigator

Clonal Hematopoiesis in Venous Thromboembolism: Advancing Precision in Risk Prediction and Treatment Outcomes.

  • Investigators: Xu Y (NPI), Carrier M, Greenstreet PJ, Le Gal G, Lettre G, Rodger MA, Vrotniakaite-Bajerciene K, Wang T, Wells PS, Yogendrakumar V. 
  • Amount: $485,774 (Oct 2026 – Sep 2029)
  • Competition: CIHR Project Grant – Spring 2026

Clones, Clots and Cancer: Precision cancer prevention after venous thromboembolism by early detection of clonal hematopoiesis

  • Investigators: Xu Y, Cook D.
  • Amount: $ 49,590
  • Competition: University of Ottawa Translational Research Grant

Pragmatic Investigation of Artificial Intelligence for Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism Prevention: PRISM-VTE Study

  • Investigator: Yan Xu
  • Amount: $30,000 (2026)
  • Competition: Mitacs Accelerate Program

Pregnancy-associated venous thrombosis and developmental outcomes

  • Investigator: Yan Xu, Marc Carrier, Erin Collins, Jennifer Enns, Tzu-Fei Wang, Sahar Monzavi-Bacon
  • Amount: $20,000 (2026)
  • Competition: Brain Heart Interconnectome – Collaborative Planning & Dissemination Grant

Advancing Precision in Prediction of Anticoagulant-Associated Bleeding Risks in Racialized Minority Populations

  • Investigator: Yan Xu, Joseph Shaw
  • Amount: $96,400 (2024 – 2026)
  • Competition: The Ottawa Hospital Academic Medical Organization – Innovation Fund

Population-based Racial Equity in Pregnancy-associated Venous Thromboembolism (PREPARE VTE): Impacts of Neighborhood, Language, and Immigration Status

  • Investigators: Yan Xu, Jerome Federspiel, Marc Carrier
  • Amount: $15,000 USD over 1 year (2025-2026)
  • Competition: Foundation for Women & Girls with Blood Disorders Research Awards Program

Canada Research Chair in Thrombosis (Tier 2) – Start-Up Operating Funds

  • Investigator: Yan Xu
  • Amount: $100,000 (2025 – 2030)
  • Competition: Canada Research Chair Program

Thrombin Generation Assay to Improve Risk Prediction of Reperfusion Outcomes in Acute Ischemic Stroke

  • Investigator: Vignan Yogendrakumar, Yan Xu
  • Amount: $49,133 (2025 – 2027)
  • Competition: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute – ELEVATE New Collaborations Fund

Use of appropriate population descriptors in thrombosis: Race, ethnicity, something else?

  • Investigators: Yan Xu, Marc Carrier, Leslie Skeith, Roy Khalifé
  • Amount: $43,000 over 3 years (2024-2027)
  • Competition: Royal College Foundation, Canadian Aid and Action Fund (CAAF) program

COMPACT Stroke: Consent Modernization for Platform Adaptive Clinical Trials in Stroke

  • Investigator: Michel Shamy, Yan Xu
  • Amount: $100,000 (2025 – 2027)
  • Competition: Brain Heart Interconnectome - Ignition/Exploration

Ethnic and Racial Quality and Access in Thrombosis Studies (EQUALS): Examining diversity and enhancing equity

  • Investigator: Yan Xu
  • Amount: $220,000 (2024 – 2026)
  • Competition: Canada Foundation for Innovation – John R. Evans Leaders Fund and Ontario Research Fund

Inflammation, clonal hematopoiesis, and venous thromboembolism among ethnic and racially underrepresented older adults

  • Investigators: Yan Xu, Marc Carrier, Jude Mary Cénat, Amy Teh-Mei Hsu, Guillaume Lettre, Rebecca Auer, Idrissa Beogo, Natasha Kekre, Roy Khalife, Gregoire Le Gal, Jerry Maniate, David Moher, Manish Sood
  • Amount: $19,728 over 1 year (2024-2025)
  • Competition: CIHR Team Grant: Embracing Diversity to Achieve Precision & Health Equity, Aging Pool – Letter of Intent Engagement Funding

Optimizing the Prevention of Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism among Medical Inpatients

  • Investigators: Yan Xu, Gregoire Le Gal
  • Amount: $30,000 (Jul 2024 – Jun 2026)
  • Competition: Health Data Research Network Canada - Pragmatic Trials Training Program (Trial Leaders Stream)

Anti-Xa Guided Dosing of Low Molecular Weight Heparin for Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism Following Traumatic Injury: A Pilot Randomized Trial

  • Investigators: Yan Xu, Alexandre Tran
  • Amount: $30,156 over 2 years (2024-2026)
  • Competition: University of Ottawa Department of Medicine Pilot Research Grant

Racial Disparities in the Diagnostic Management and Outcomes of Pregnancy-associated Venous Thromboembolism: A Population-based Observational Study

  • Investigators: Yan Xu, Leslie Skeith, Kinga Malinowski, Isabelle Malhamé, Camille Simard, Jerome Federspiel, Marc Carrier, Mwali Muray, Tzu-Fei Wang, Manish Sood, Peter Tanuseputro
  • Amount: $15,000 USD over 1 year (2023-2024)
  • Competition: International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Scientific and Standardization Committee Grant Program

 

Co-Investigator

Multinational Assessment of Risk factors and Vascular disease in Elders with dementias using Longitudinal cohort studies: The MARVEL Project

  • Investigators: NPI: Amy Hsu; Co-PIs: Frank AR, Lau W, Luo H, Vetrano D, Julien A-M; Co-investigators: Bezzina K, Boczar K, Chan T, Crawshaw J, Edwards J, Fisher S, Hensel A, Hunter L, Knoefel F, Magalhaes S, Manuel D, Parry M, Thavorn K, Xu Y.
  • Amount: $1,000,000 over 4 years (2024-2029)
  • Competition: CIHR Team Grant: Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Phase III

The Impact of language on care and outcomes in patients with prostate or breast cancer

  • Investigators: Tzu-Fei Wang, Arif Awan, Chantal Backman, Ricardo Batista, Dominick Bosse, Marc Carrier, Angela Cheung, Katherine Cole, Stacey Fisher, Eric Forgues, Sharon Johnston, Krystal Kehoe MacLeod, Wenshan Li, Aliza Moledina, Daniel Myran, Michael Ong, Kruti Patel, Michael Reaume, Colleen Webber, Yan Xu
  • Amount: $100,000 over 1 year (2024-2025)
  • Competition: CIHR Project Grant – Priority Announcement: Health and Official Languages in Minority Communities

Impact of COVID-19 on Francophones and other minority language groups living in long-term care or receiving home care

  • Investigators: Peter Tanuseputro, Ricardo Batista, Lise Bjerre, Marc Carrier, Marie-Helene Chomienne, Stephanie Collin, Shannon Fernando, Adrienne Gaudreault, Alain Gauthier, Amy Hsu, Sharon Johnston, Sathya Karunananthan, Krystal Kehoe MacLeod, Claire Kendall, Josette Landry, Wenshan Li, Mwali Muray, Denis Prud'homme, Michael Reaume, Annie Robitaille, Manish Sood, Patrick Tang, Rachelle Vessey, Colleen Webber, Yan Xu, Antoine Desilets.
  • Amount: $725,000 over 4 years (2023-2027)
  • Competition: CIHR Project Grant

Reducing Gastrointestinal Bleeding with Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy in Acute Venous Thromboembolism (RADIANT) Pilot Randomized Trial

  • Investigators: Deborah Siegal, Aurélien Delluc, Jameel Abdulrehman, Alan Barkun, Marc Carrier, Lana Castellucci, Nauzer Forbes, Peter Gross, Tim Ramsay, Marc Rodger, Leslie Skeith, Tzu-Fei Wang, Yan Xu.
  • Amount: $236,667 over 3 years (2023-2026)
  • Competition: CIHR Project Grant

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