My research focus on cancer outcomes, health care access and quality, and specialize in leveraging causal inference methods with administrative health records, national survey data, and other secondary data sources to evaluate national health policies and conduct population-based health services research.
My current research surrounds several areas: 1) physician behavior and organizational structures of oncology market, 2) health policy evaluation such as Medicaid expansion and opioid prescription policies, 3) patient-reported symptoms and its associations with cancer outcomes.
If you are interested in working with me, or looking for a RA or a post-doc position, please contact me at: xin.hu@emory.edu
You can access my Google Scholar page here.
Physician Behavior and Organizational Structures of Oncology Market:
Hu X, Kwon Y, Jiang C, Fan Q, Shi KS, Zheng ZJ, Zhao J, Warren JL, Yabroff KR, Han X. Trend and Provider- and Organizational-Level Factors Associated With Early Palliative Care Billing Among Patients Diagnosed With Distant-Stage Cancers in 2010-2019 in the United States. J Clin Oncol. 2025 Mar 7:JCO2401935. doi: 10.1200/JCO-24-01935.
Hu X, Jiang C, Yabroff KR, Lipscomb J, Graetz I. Vertical Integration and Oncologists' Adoption of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Health Serv Res 2025 Feb 19:e14436. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.14436.
Hu X, McCarthy I, Yabroff KR, You W, Lipscomb J, Graetz I. Association Between Medicare Site-Based Payment Policy, Physician Practice Characteristics, and Vertical Integration Among Oncologists. JCO Oncol Pract. 2024 Jul 2:OP2400091. doi: 10.1200/OP.24.00091.
(Job Market Paper)
Hu X, Lipscomb J, Jiang C, Graetz I. Vertical integration of oncologists and cancer outcomes and costs in metastatic Castration-Resistant prostate cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 Dec 30:djac233. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djac233. (with editorial)
Health Policy Evaluation
Hu X, Castellino SM, Kirchhoff AC, Williamson Lewis RS, DeGroote NP, Cornwell P, Mertens AC, Lipscomb J, Ji X. Association Between Medicaid Coverage Continuity and Survival in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Pediatric and Adolescent Cancers. JCO Oncol Pract. 2025 Mar;21(3):380-390. doi: 10.1200/OP.24.00268.
Hu X, Yang N, Fan Q, Yabroff KR, Han X. Health insurance coverage among incident cancer cases from 49 population-based US cancer registries in 2010-2019. Health Affairs Scholar, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxad083
Hu X, Brock KE, Effinger KE, et al. Changes in Opioid Prescriptions and Potential Misuse and Substance Use Disorders Among Childhood Cancer Survivors Following the 2016 Opioid Prescribing Guideline. JAMA Oncol. Published online September 08, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.3744
Graetz I, Yarbrough CR, Hu X, Howard DH. Association of Mandatory-Access Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs With Opioid Prescriptions Among Medicare Patients Treated by a Medical or Hematologic Oncologist. JAMA Oncol. 2020 Jul 1.
Graetz I, Hu X, Ji X, Wetzel M, Yarbrough CR. The effect of cancer exemption in mandatory-access prescription drug monitoring programs among oncologists. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2023 Mar 1;7(2):pkad006. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkad006.
Ji X, Hu X, Castellino SM, Mertens AC, Yabroff KR, Han X. Narrowing Insurance Disparities Among Children and Adolescents With Cancer Following the Affordable Care Act. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2022 Jan 5;6(1):pkac006.
Davidoff AJ, Guy GP Jr, Hu X, Gonzales F, Han X, Zheng Z, Parsons H, Ekwueme DU, Jemal A. Changes in Health Insurance Coverage Associated With the Affordable Care Act Among Adults With and Without a Cancer History: Population-based National Estimates. Med Care. 2018 Mar.
Patient-Reported Symptoms and Cancer Outcomes
Hu X, Kaplan C, Martin MY, Walker MS, Stepanski E, Schwartzberg L, Vidal G, Graetz I. Race differences in patient-reported symptoms during chemotherapy among women with early-stage hormone receptor positive breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022; https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-0692
Hu X, Walker MS, Stepanski E, Kaplan CM, Martin MY, Vidal GA, Schwartzberg LS, Graetz I. Racial Differences in Patient-Reported Symptoms and Adherence to Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy Among Women With Early-Stage, Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Aug 1;5(8):e2225485.
Hu X, Chehal PK, Kaplan C, Krukowski RA, Lan RH, Stepanski E, Schwartzberg L, Vidal G, Graetz I. Characterization of Clinical Symptoms by Race Among Women With Early-Stage, Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Before Starting Chemotherapy. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Jun 1.
Other Collaborative Projects
Hu X, Ma J, Jemal A, et al. Suicide Risk Among Individuals Diagnosed With Cancer in the US, 2000-2016. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(1):e2251863. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.51863
Media coverage: American Cancer Society, The Hill, U.S. News, Physician Weekly, HealthDay
Graetz I, Hu X, Curry AN, Robles A, Vidal GA, Schwartzberg LS. Mobile application to support oncology patients during treatment on patient outcomes: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Cancer Med. 2022 Oct 18. doi: 10.1002/cam4.5351.
Han X, Hu X, Zhao J, Jemal A, Yabroff KR. Identification of Deaths Caused by Cancer and COVID-19 in the US During March to December 2020. JAMA Oncol. Published online September 29, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.4315
Ji X, Hu X, Brock KE, Mertens AC, Cummings JR, Effinger KE. Early Post-Therapy Opioid Prescription, Potential Misuse, and Substance Use Disorder among Pediatric Cancer Survivors. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 Mar 9:djac049.
Han X, Hu X, Zhao J, Ma J, Jemal A, Yabroff KR. Trends of Cancer-Related Suicide in the United States: 1999-2018. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2021 Jan 19.
Phillips VL, Hu X. Association of healthy child-rearing practices and children's receipt of care in patient-centered medical homes. J Child Health Care. 2020 Jul 3.
Diaz MM, Hu X, Fenton BT, Kimuli I, Lee A, Lindsey H, Bigelow JK, Maiser S, Altalib HH, Sico JJ. Prevalence of and characteristics associated with in-hospital mortality in a Ugandan neurology ward. BMC Neurol. 2020 Jan 31.
Davidoff AJ*, Hu X*, Bewersdorf JP, Wang R, Podoltsev NA, Huntington SF, Gore SD, Ma X, Zeidan AM. Hypomethylating agent (HMA) therapy use and survival in older adults with Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts (RAEB) in the United States (USA): a large propensity score-matched population-based study. Leuk Lymphoma. 2020 May
*Co-first author.
Zeidan AM, Hu X, Zhu W, Stahl M, Wang R, Huntington SF, Giri S, Bewersdorf JP, Podoltsev NA, Gore SD, Ma X, Davidoff AJ. Association of provider experience and clinical outcomes in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes receiving hypomethylating agents. Leuk Lymphoma. 2020 Feb.
Smith TG, Strollo S, Hu X, Earle CC, Leach CR, Nekhlyudov L. Understanding Long-Term Cancer Survivors' Preferences for Ongoing Medical Care. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Oct.
Zeidan AM, Stahl M, Hu X, Wang R, Huntington SF, Podoltsev NA, Gore SD, Ma X, Davidoff AJ. Long-term survival of older patients with MDS treated with HMA therapy without subsequent stem cell transplantation. Blood. 2018 Feb.
Zeidan AM, Hu X, Long JB, Wang R, Ma X, Podoltsev NA, Huntington SF, Gore SD, Davidoff AJ. Hypomethylating agent therapy use and survival in older patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia in the United States: A large population-based study. Cancer. 2017 Oct 1.
Stratton J, Hu X, Soulos PR, Davidoff AJ, Pusztai L, Gross CP, Mougalian SS. Bone Density Screening in Postmenopausal Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer Treated With Aromatase Inhibitors. J Oncol Pract. 2017 May.
Zeidan AM, Davidoff AJ, Long JB, Hu X, Wang R, Ma X, Gross CP, Abel GA, Huntington SF, Podoltsev NA, Hajime U, Prebet T, Gore SD. Comparative clinical effectiveness of azacitidine versus decitabine in older patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Br J Haematol. 2016 Dec.
Hu X, Phillips VL, Gaydos LM, Joski P. Association of Healthy Home Environments and Use of Patient-Centered Medical Homes by Children of Low-Income Families. J Pediatr Health Care. 2017 Mar-Apr.