Xinjiang Cai, MD, PhD

Dr. Cai is a cardiologist and physician scientist in the Department of Medicine at UCLA. He is passionate about improving Patient-Centered Clinical Care in patients and Cardiovascular Health in the general population. His clinical research focuses on cardio-oncology, an evolving interdisciplinary field that investigates the bidirectional relationship between two leading causes of mortality worldwide - cardiovascular disease and cancer. The objective is to optimize prevention strategies, refine risk stratification, and advance clinical management to improve long-term outcomes across both conditions and enhance the quality of patient care.

*Cai X#, White Q#, Johnson WC, Hansen SL, Dardari ZA, Blaha M, Michos ED, Lima JA, deFi ippi CR, Budoff MJ, Watson KE, McClelland RL, Yang EH. Baseline Cardiac Biomarker Levels as Predictors of Cancer Risk in the MESA Cohort. JACC Adv. 2025 Jun 16;4(7):101884. doi: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101884. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40527284; PMCID: PMC12213292. (news highlighted by Physician Weekly, Healio Cardiology Today, Medicine Today, UCLA Health, UCLA DOM Weekly Newsletter, The Cancer Letter, Cancer Today, OncoDaily, and ASCO Post) #Co-first author *Corresponding author

*Cai X#, White Q#, Juarez J, Chehab O, Ambale-Venkatesh b, Johnson WC, Hansen SL, Kosuke I, Lima JA, Watson KE, McClelland RL. Association of Subclinical Cardiac Remodeling with Incident Cancer in the MESA Study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2026 (Under Review) #Co-first author *Corresponding author

*Cai X. Baseline cardiac biomarkers as predictors of future cancer: a new frontier in preventive cardio-oncology. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2026 Mar 13;33(4):631-633. doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf718. PMID: 41220208; PMCID: PMC12707690. *Corresponding author