People

Xiaofeng Jia, MD, MS, PhD, FCCM
Professor

Xiaofeng Jia, MD, MS, PhD, FCCM is the director of Neurosurgical Stem Cell Research and the director of the Translational Neuroengineering and Neuroscience Laboratory, a Professor of the Department of Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics,  and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He has been a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, since 2007.

His current research interests include regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy, brain monitoring and therapeutic hypothermia, peripheral nerve injury and regeneration, spinal cord injury, and bone regeneration. He has been a Chartered member of the NIH ANIE study section and has been serving as an ad-hoc member of 8 NIH study sections, VA, NSFC, European Commission REA; AHA, SCCM et al.

Dr. JIA is a fellow member (basic science) of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), American Association for Hand Surgery (AAHS), Scientific Review Committee member, and Research Section Steering Committee member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) et al. He is the section Editor in Chief of International Journal of Molecular Sciences. He has authored 156 refereed journal papers, 88 of them as the first or corresponding author, with over 200 invited or platform presentations, and has carried out research funded by NIH RO1, DARPA, AHA, MSCRF, et al.

He received the Annual Research Awards from AAHS in 2008. His research work was highlighted in NIH Research Matters and NIH 2015 Research Highlights. He is a recipient of the Society of Critical Care Medicine 2021, 2022, and 2023 Star Research Achievement Award.

Xiao Liu, MS, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021
Graduation Date: MS (2020), MD (2017)

Dr. Liu obtained her Medical Doctor degree and Master of Science (Neurology) degree from Wuhan University. Dr. Liu finished her residency training in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Critical Care. She has a strong background in electrophysiological assessment of cognitive performance and chronotype, with a focus on cognitive recovery after ion channel diseases, including the comorbidity of migraine and epilepsy. She then became a doctor in Department of Critical Care at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, gaining experience in post-care after cardiac arrest.

Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Jia’s lab at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Her research mainly focuses on treatment (stem cell therapy, targeted temperature management and neuroprotective drugs) for global cerebral ischemia after cardiac arrest and the related mechanisms.

Hui Shen, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023
Graduation Date: PhD (2023) BS (2017)

Dr. Shen received his PhD in neurobiology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in 2023. His research has primarily focused on the mechanism and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, particularly on understanding the function of glial cells and stem cells. Currently, he is researching sugar-analog modification of adipose stem cells or extracellular vesicle therapy for treating peripheral nerve injuries.

Chunfang Qiu, MD, MS, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023
Graduation Date: PhD (2017), MS (2014), MD (2011)

Dr. Qiu received her PhD from Sun Yat Sen University, China in 2017. She has worked as a physician in the neurosurgical ICU department for six years. She has a broad background in neurosurgery intensive care medicine, and she has been interested in the neuronal regeneration and repair effects of stem cell therapy on global ischemic brain injury because of cardiac arrest. Dr. Qiu has been working as a postdoc focused on the neuroprotective effects of neuronal stem cells on ischemic brain injury caused by cardiac arrest since September 2023.

Anam Anjum, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, 2024
Graduation Date: PhD (2023)

Dr. Anjum received her PhD from The National University of Malaysia in 2023. She worked on Spinal cord injury models and nerve regeneration studies. She was awarded an excellent thesis award and was nominated for the Gold award for the University. She completed her Master's in 2017 from The National University of Malaysia.

In 2012, she was awarded a Pharm-D degree from the University of Sargodha, Pakistan, and received a Gold medal for scoring the highest marks. She also worked as a Postdoc at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland, in 2023 (6 months) on brain neuroplasticity and MMP9 activity.

She is interested in the neuronal regeneration pathways and nerve repair effects of stem cell-derived exosomes against peripheral nerve injury. Dr. Anam's primary research focus is the neuroprotection and neuroregeneration effects of extracellular vesicles or stem cells on peripheral nerve injury.

Madelynn McElroy
PhD Student, 2024
Graduation Date: 2023 (BS)

Madelynn received bachelor’s degrees in both bioengineering and genetics and cell biology from Washington State University in 2023. She has research experience in computational modeling and plant biology, but has shifted her focus towards stem cell therapies, especially for treatment of ischemic brain injury caused by cardiac arrest. She is currently a PhD student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland in College Park. She is a graduate research assistant in Professor Jia’s lab in Baltimore.