Julia Upton

Co-Director, Food Immunotherapy/Fellow-In-Training (FIT) Clinic

Medical Director, Clinical Research Centre (CRC)
Clinical Research Services
SickKids Research Institute

Project Investigator
SickKids Research Institute

Dr. Julia Upton is a Clinical Immunologist and Allergist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto (U of T), and the Medical Director of the Clinical Research Centre.  She is on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI) and on the Health Care Advisory Board of Food Allergy Canada.  She graduated from Western University's Medical school, completed residency at McMaster University, Allergy/Immunology fellowship at University of Toronto, and a Master’s in Public Health at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Research

Dr. Upton’s research interests include the description and care of immunodeficiencies and exploring the risk factors, severity, prognosis and treatment of food allergies.  If you are interested in learning more about trials led by Dr. Upton that are currently recruiting participants, please visit Research4Kids and enter "Julia Upton" into the "Researcher" field.

Education and experience

• 2016–2018: Masters of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S
• 2014–Present: Courtesy Staff, Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy/Immunology, St. Michael’s Hospital (SMH), Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• 1998–2002: Medical Doctor (MD), University of Western Ontario (now called Western University), London Ontario, Canada.
• 1996–1998: Diploma in Honors Standing, Subject: Genetics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Dean’s Honor List, Graduated with Distinction
• 1993–1996: B.Sc., Subject:  Life Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Achievements

Leadership roles

• 2022–Present: Board of Directors, Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• 2021–Present: Co-Director, SickKids Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Program
• 2018–Present: Health Care Advisory Board, Food Allergy Canada 

Internal awards

• 2018: Inaugural Janet Rossant Research Innovation Prize. CAD 25,000.00. Awarded for collaborative work characterizing ARPC1B deficiency in humans. Awardees: Walter Kahr, Ernest Cutz, Ronald Laxer, Julia Upton, Chaim Roifman, Ray Yeung, John Brumell and Aleixo Muise.

External awards

• 2022: Robyn Allen Leadership Award, Food Allergy Canada

1. Greenhawt M, Sindher SB, Wang J, O'Sullivan M, du Toit G, Kim EH, Albright D, Anvari S, Arends N, Arkwright PD, Bégin P, Blumchen K, Bourrier T, Brown-Whitehorn T, Cassell H, Chan ES, Ciaccio CE, Deschildre A, Divaret-Chauveau A, Dorris SL, Dorsey MJ, Eiwegger T, Erlewyn-Lajeunesse M, Fleischer DM, Ford LS, Garcia-Lloret M, Giovannini-Chami L, Hourihane JO, Jay N, Jones SM, Kerns LA, Kloepfer KM, Leonard S, Lezmi G, Lieberman JA, Lomas J, Makhija M, Parrish C, Peake J, Perrett KP, Petroni D, Pfützner W, Pongracic JA, Quinn P, Robison RG, Sanders G, Schneider L, Sharma HP, Trujillo J, Turner PJ, Tuttle K, Upton JE, Varshney P, Vickery BP, Vogelberg C, Wainstein B, Wood RA, Bee KJ, Campbell DE, Green TD, Rouissi R, Peillon A, Bahnson HT, Bois T, Sampson HA, Burks AW. Phase 3 Trial of Epicutaneous Immunotherapy in Toddlers with Peanut Allergy. N Engl J Med. 2023 May 11;388(19):1755-1766. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2212895. PMID: 37163622.
2. Upton JEM, Hoang JA, Leon-Ponte M, Finkelstein Y, Du Y, Adeli K, Eiwegger T, Grunebaum E, Vadas P.  Platelet-Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase is a Biomarker of Severe Anaphylaxis in Children.  Allergy. Apr. 09, 2022.  doi: 10.1111/all.15308. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC--h64m71LRD_stm98CVpcw  
3. Crowley E, Warner N, Pan J, Khalouei S, Elkadri A, Fiedler K, Foong K, Turinsky A, Bronte-Tinkew D, Zhang S, Hu J, Tian D,  Li D, Horowitz J, Siddiqui I, Upton J, Roifman C, Church P, Wall D, Ramani A, Kotlarz D, Klein C, Uhlig H, Snapper S, Gonzaga-Jauregui C, McGovern D, Paterson A, Brudno M, Walters T, Griffiths A, Muise A. Prevalence and Clinical Features of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Associated with Monogenic Variants, Identified by Whole-exome sequencing in 1000 Children at a Single Center. Gastroenterology. 2020 Feb 18. pii:S0016-5085(20)30233-X. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2020.02.023.
4. Bégin P, Chan ES, Kim H, Wagner M, Cellier MS, Favron-Godbout C, Abrams EM, Ben-Shoshan M, Cameron SB, Carr S, Fischer D, Haynes A, Kapur S, Primeau MN, Upton J, Vander Leek TK, Goetghebeur MM. CSACI guidelines for the ethical, evidence-based and patient-oriented clinical practice of oral immunotherapy in IgE-mediated food allergy. Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol. 2020 Mar 18;16:20. doi: 10.1186/s13223-020-0413-7. eCollection 2020. 
5. Upton JEM, Grunebaum E, Sussman G, Vadas P. Platelet Activating Factor (PAF): A Mediator of Inflammation. Biofactors. 2022 Nov;48(6):1189-1202. doi: 10.1002/biof.1883. Epub 2022 Aug 27. PMID: 36029481

https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/?term=Julia+upton&sort=date&show_snippets=off

See a full list of Julia Upton's publications