Julia Upton

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 the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Section Head of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI) and on the medical 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 (now called Western University), 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

• 2016–2020: Section Chair – Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy, Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• 2018–Present: Health Care Advisory Board, Food Allergy Canada 
• 2021-Present: Co-Director Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Program

Internal awards

• Oct. 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

• April 2018: Nominated for Robyn Allen Leadership Award, Food Allergy Canada

1. Upton J, Bird A. Oral Food Challenges: Special Considerations. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2020 Feb 20. pii: S1081-1206(20)30105-8. Doi:10.1016/j.anai.2020.02.008. Review. No abstract available. (IF=3.560).
2. *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.
3. Eiwegger T, *Hung L, San Diego KE, O’Mahony L, Upton J. Recent developments and highlights in food allergy. Allergy. 2019 Dec; 74(12):2355-2367. doi:10.1111/all.14082. Epub 2019 Oct. 30. Review.
4. Upton J, Nowak-Wegrzyn A. The Impact of Baked Egg and Baked Milk Diets on IgE and Non-IgE-Mediated Allergy. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, invited review.  2018 Mar 8.
   *This paper is significant because it is an invited review with a leader in the field. It is a result of the Kwan et al paper (below). It has lead to being invited to baked milk workgroup.
5. Kahr WH, Pluthero FG, Elkadri A, Warner N, Drobac M, Chen CH, Lo RW, Li L, Li R, Li Q, Thoeni C, Pan J, Leung G, Lara-Corrales I, Murchie R, Cutz E, Laxer RM, Upton J, Roifman CM, Yeung RS, Brumell J H, Muise AM. Loss of the Arp2/3 complex component ARPC1B causes platelet abnormalities and predisposes to inflammatory disease. Nat Commun. 2017 Apr 3;8:14816
6. Upton JEM, Hoang JA, Leon-Ponte M, Finkelstein Y, Du Y(J), Adeli K, Eiwegger T, Grunebaum E, Vadas P. Platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase is a biomarker of severe anaphylaxis in children. Allergy. 09 April 2022.

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