Joshua Xu, Ph.D.

Computer Scientist — Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics

Joshua Xu is a principal investigator at FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research. Dr. Xu works in the Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics. His work primarily focuses on the regulatory application of genomics data, data mining to extract information from FDA documents, and implementation of artificial intelligence/ machine learning-based methods for enhancing food safety. Dr. Xu also works on drug labeling.

Genes can affect a person's response to drugs. With the support of the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity, we extracted information from FDA drug labeling documents and literature reports about the genetic biomarkers for drug response and studied their distribution in minority groups. All of this information went into a database for FDA reviewers and researchers to understand and evaluate minority group-specific pharmacogenomics information. This will help enhance drug safety for minority groups.

OMHHE’s support was instrumental for this project. They connected us with regulatory reviewers and researchers to get their valuable input to enhance the information captured in the database. Doing so will ultimately improve the health of diverse and minority populations.

• Database of Pharmacogenomic Information in Ethnic Minority Populations (dbPGxEMP)

Additional biographical information on Dr. Xu can be found on NCTR Principal Investigators.

Additional information can be found on Featured Research and Principal Investigators.