Kathleen Liu, MD, PhD

Professor In Residence

EDUCATION

College: Harvard University, AB
Medical/Graduate School: University of California, San Francisco, MD, PhD

RESEARCH

My current research areas of interest focus on the predictive and pathogenetic role of biomarkers for both acute and chronic disease states. My long term goal is to identify and validate novel biomarkers of organ injury (specifically, the kidney and lung) that may have predictive value for disease outcomes as well as shed important insight into disease pathogenesis. In addition, I have a major interest in clinical trials in the Intensive Care Unit, with a particular focus on acute lung injury and acute kidney injury.

Education
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
M.A.S. in Clinical Research, 2007 - Graduate Division (Advance Training in Clinical Research), University of California, San Francisco
M.D., 1999 - Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Ph.D., 1997 - Graduate Division (Biochemistry), University of California, San Francisco
Websites
Publications

  1. McCoy I, Liu KD, Siew E, Tuot DS, Vijayan A, Kwong YD, Umemoto GM, Birkelo BC, Neuhaus J, Zhuo H, Hsu CY. Dialysis Discontinuation Rates at Low Levels of Kidney Function in Patients with Acute Kidney Injury on Intermittent Hemodialysis. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN 2026. PMID: 42640730


  2. Stanski NL, Zhang B, Ouyang J, Standage SW, Cvijanovich NZ, Fitzgerald JC, Bigham MT, Jain PN, Lutfi R, Allen GL, Thomas NJ, Baines T, Haileselassie B, Weiss SL, Lautz AJ, Kaplan JM, Zingarelli B, Atreya MR, Sanchez-Pinto LN, Goldstein SL, Liu KD. External Validation, Molecular Signatures, and Therapeutic Relevance of Pediatric Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury Subphenotypes. Critical care medicine 2026. PMID: 42159375


  3. Matthay MA, Zhou H, Sarma A, Alipanah-Lechner N, Hendrickson C, Kornblith LZ, Schreiber M, Zonies D, Khan A, Robinson B, Johnson NJ, Ware LB, Guillamondegui O, Casey J, Moore L, Patel B, Kao L, Wade CE, Fox E, Cox C, Khawanja F, Aguillon Prada R, Hossri S, Callcut R, Albertson T, Delucchi KL, McMillan M, Langelier CR, Pati S, McKenna DH, Leroux C, Calfee CS, Liu KD. Treatment with Allogenic Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled, Multi-Center, Phase 2b Clinical Trial (STAT). American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2025. PMID: 40728562


  4. Liu KD, Siew ED, Tuot DS, Vijayan A, Matzumura Umemoto G, Birkelo BC, Lee BJ, Kwong YD, McCoy IE, Delucchi K, Zhuo H, Hsu CY. A Conservative Dialysis Strategy and Kidney Function Recovery in Dialysis-Requiring Acute Kidney Injury: The Liberation From Acute Dialysis (LIBERATE-D) Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2025. PMID: 41201895


  5. Saeed F, Duberstein PR, White DB, Liu KD, Epstein RM, Fiscella KA. Time-limited trials for acute dialysis decision-making for critically ill older patients: rationale, communication strategies, and future research. Current opinion in nephrology and hypertension 2026. PMID: 41492246


  6. Spottiswoode N, Neyton LP, Mick E, Kalantar KL, Hao S, Lydon EC, Narendra R, Serpa PH, Caldera S, Gomez A, Hendrickson C, Kangelaris K, Liu KD, Sinha P, DeRisi JL, Matthay MA, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Host-Microbe Multiomic Profiling Predicts Mortality in Sepsis. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2025. PMID: 40788839


  7. Alipanah-Lechner N, Neyton L, Sinha P, Leroux C, Bardillon K, Carrillo SA, Chak S, Chao O, Hariharan T, Hendrickson C, Kangelaris K, Langelier CR, Lee D, Lin C, Liu K, Magee L, Ringor A, Sarma A, Schmiege E, Spottiswoode N, Sullivan K, Weingart MF, Willmore A, Zhuo H, Rogers AJ, Stringer KA, Matthay MA, Calfee CS. Longitudinal multi-omic signatures of ARDS and sepsis inflammatory phenotypes identify pathways associated with mortality. The Journal of clinical investigation 2025. PMID: 41329523


  8. Sullivan KM, Liu KD, Matthay MA. Organ Crosstalk During Injury: Mechanisms of Lung-Kidney Interaction in Critical Illness. Comprehensive Physiology 2025. PMID: 41340336


  9. Msilanga D, Muiru A, Msangi E, Shoo J, Mngumi J, Komba E, Balandya E, Ruggajo P, Bhimma R, Liu K. Point-of-care creatinine-based eGFR (StatSensor) in detecting kidney dysfunction (KD) among people living with HIV in Tanzania. PloS one 2025. PMID: 40934196


  10. Sanchez PA, Obeidalla S, Kerchberger VE, Moore AR, Maddali MV, Kangelaris KN, Hendrickson CM, Evrard B, Liu KD, Bastarache JA, Matthay MA, Rogers AJ, Calfee CS. Heterogeneity in association of myocardial injury and mortality in sepsis or acute respiratory distress syndrome by subphenotype: a retrospective study. Critical care (London, England) 2025. PMID: 40826103


  11. Stanski NL, Zhang B, Ouyang J, Sanchez-Pinto LN, Faustino EVS, Rogerson CM, Hall MW, Weiss SL, Bennett TD, Standage SW, Goldstein SL, Liu KD, New Collective Author. Derivation and Validation of Pediatric Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury Subphenotypes With Prognostic Relevance. Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies 2025. PMID: 40637493


  12. Liu KD. Fluid management in acute kidney injury should be liberal when needed. Kidney international 2025. PMID: 40543938


  13. Shi AA, Andrawis AS, Biswas A, Wilson FP, Obeid W, Philbrook HT, Go AS, Ikizler TA, Siew ED, Chinchilli VM, Hsu CY, Garg AX, Reeves WB, Prince DK, Bhatraju P, Coca SG, Liu KD, Kimmel PL, Kaufman JS, Wurfel MW, Himmelfarb J, Parikh CR, Mansour SG, ASSESS-AKI Consortium*. Using vascular biomarkers to assess heart failure event risk in hospitalized patients with and without AKI. BMC nephrology 2025. PMID: 40457292


  14. Zalucky AA, Dianti J, Neyton LPA, Sinha P, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Thompson BT, Goligher EC, Calfee CS. Elastance May Determine the Neuromuscular Blockade Effect on Mortality in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2025. PMID: 39998496


  15. McCoy IE, Liu KD, Ghamarian E, Quenot JP, Zarbock A, Bihorac A, Khoo B, Gallagher MP, Du B, Joannidis M, Kashani K, Tolwani A, Bagshaw SM, Wald R, STandard versus Accelerated initiation of Renal Replacement Therapy in AKI (STARRT-AKI) Investigator. Dialysis Dependence in Standard versus Accelerated Initiation of KRT in AKI: A Post Hoc Analysis. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN 2025. PMID: 40232884


  16. Zalucky AA, Evrard B, Delucchi K, Zhuo H, Wu N, Liu KD, Hendrickson CM, Matthay MA, Kangelaris KN, Calfee CS. Agreement Between Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 Definitions Among Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2024. PMID: 39471317


  17. Manis MM, Wallace JL, Boyd EF, Abebe KZ, Fried L, Palevsky PM, Conway PT, Horwitz EJ, Liu KD, Parikh CR, Poggio E, Siew ED, Neyra JA, Weir MR, Wilson FP, Kane-Gill SL. Postdischarge Care of Acute Kidney Injury Survivors: An Opportunity for Targeted Nurse and Pharmacist Interventions. Advances in kidney disease and health 2025. PMID: 40222802


  18. Rolandsson Enes S, Dzneladze I, Hampton TH, Neff SL, Asarian L, Barua J, Tertel T, Giebel B, Pereyra N, McKenna DH, Hu P, Acton E, Ashare A, Liu KD, Krasnodembskaya AD, English K, Stanton BA, Rocco PRM, Matthay MA, Dos Santos CC, Weiss DJ. Acute respiratory distress vs healthy lung environments differently affect mesenchymal stromal cell extracellular vesicle miRNAs. Cytotherapy 2025. PMID: 39945694


  19. Mabrey FL, Martin TR, Calfee CS, Liu KD, LaCombe B, Brown-Swigart L, Discacciati A, Eklund M, Heckbert SR, Matthay MA, Esserman L, Wurfel MM. Anti-CD14 treatment in patients with severe COVID-19: Clinical and biological effects in a Phase 2 randomized open-label adaptive platform clinical trial. CHEST Critical Care 2024. PMID: 40462830


  20. Msilanga D, Muiru A, Balandya E, Liu K. Point of care creatinine testing for early detection of renal dysfunction in Tanzanian HIV patients: a study protocol. BMC nephrology 2024. PMID: 39574046


  21. Kwong YD, Liu KD. Impact of Adsorptive Blood Purification on Kidney Outcomes. JAMA 2024. PMID: 39382233


  22. Judson TJ, Lo L, Demko JE, Mourad M, Liu KD, Wachter RM, Lopez I, Tummalapalli SL. Addressing Inpatient Hyponatremia Through Targeted Automatic E-consults: A Pilot Randomized Trial. Journal of general internal medicine 2024. PMID: 39438379


  23. Zarbock A, Forni LG, Koyner JL, Bell S, Reis T, Meersch M, Bagshaw SM, Fuhmann DY, Liu KD, Pannu N, Arikan AA, Angus DC, Duquette D, Goldstein SL, Hoste E, Joannidis M, Jongs N, Legrand M, Mehta RL, Murray PT, Nadim MK, Ostermann M, Prowle J, See EJ, Selby NM, Shaw AD, Srisawat N, Ronco C, Kellum JA. Recommendations for clinical trial design in acute kidney injury from the 31st acute disease quality initiative consensus conference. A consensus statement. Intensive care medicine 2024. PMID: 39115567


  24. Ware LB, Files DC, Fowler A, Aboodi MS, Aggarwal NR, Brower RG, Chang SY, Douglas IS, Fields S, Foulkes AS, Ginde AA, Harris ES, Hendey GW, Hite RD, Huang W, Lai P, Liu KD, Thompson BT, Matthay MA, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury Clinic. Acetaminophen for Prevention and Treatment of Organ Dysfunction in Critically Ill Patients With Sepsis: The ASTER Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2024. PMID: 38762798


  25. Antonucci E, Garcia B, Chen D, Matthay MA, Liu KD, Legrand M. Incidence of acute kidney injury and attributive mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome randomized trials. Intensive care medicine 2024. PMID: 38864911


  26. Chan MJ, Liu KD. Acute Kidney Injury and Subsequent Cardiovascular Disease: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Treatment. Seminars in nephrology 2024. PMID: 38849258


  27. Bogart AM, Lopez CR, Obeidalla SN, Wang C, Willmore A, Jauregui A, Kangelaris KN, Hendrickson C, Gomez A, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Shaver CM, Bastarache JA, Calfee CS, Kerchberger VE, Ware LB. Elevated Hemoglobin A1c and the Risk of Developing ARDS in Two Cohort Studies. CHEST Critical Care 2024. PMID: 39421542


  28. Evrard B, Sinha P, Delucchi K, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Liu KD, Willmore A, Wu N, Neyton L, Schmiege E, Gomez A, Kerchberger VE, Zalucky A, Matthay MA, Ware LB, Calfee CS. Causes and attributable fraction of death from ARDS in inflammatory phenotypes of sepsis. Critical care (London, England) 2024. PMID: 38745253


  29. Valda Toro PL, Willmore A, Wu NE, Delucchi KL, Jauregui A, Sinha P, Liu KD, Hendrickson CM, Sarma A, Neyton LPA, Leligdowicz A, Langelier CR, Zhuo H, Jones C, Kangelaris KN, Gomez AD, Matthay MA, Calfee CS. Rapidly improving ARDS differs clinically and biologically from persistent ARDS. Critical care (London, England) 2024. PMID: 38649920


  30. Prasad PA, Esmaili AM, Oreper S, Beagle AJ, Hubbard C, Raffel KE, Abe-Jones Y, Fang MC, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Kangelaris KN. Timing of antibiotic treatment identifies distinct clinical presentations among patients presenting with suspected septic shock. Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open 2024. PMID: 38596320


  31. Neyton LPA, Sinha P, Sarma A, Mick E, Kalantar K, Chen S, Wu N, Delucchi K, Zhuo H, Bos LDJ, Jauregui A, Gomez A, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Leligdowicz A, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Langelier CR, Calfee CS. Host and Microbe Blood Metagenomics Reveals Key Pathways Characterizing Critical Illness Phenotypes. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2024. PMID: 38190719


  32. Legrand M, Bagshaw SM, Bhatraju PK, Bihorac A, Caniglia E, Khanna AK, Kellum JA, Koyner J, Harhay MO, Zampieri FG, Zarbock A, Chung K, Liu K, Mehta R, Pickkers P, Ryan A, Bernholz J, Dember L, Gallagher M, Rossignol P, Ostermann M. Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury: recent advances in enrichment strategies, sub-phenotyping and clinical trials. Critical care (London, England) 2024. PMID: 38515121


  33. Alipanah-Lechner N, Hurst-Hopf J, Delucchi K, Swigart L, Willmore A, LaCombe B, Dewar R, Lane HC, Lallemand P, Liu KD, Esserman L, Matthay MA, Calfee CS, I-SPY COVID Consortium. Novel subtypes of severe COVID-19 respiratory failure based on biological heterogeneity: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Critical care (London, England) 2024. PMID: 38383504


  34. Pickkers P, Angus DC, Bass K, Bellomo R, van den Berg E, Bernholz J, Bestle MH, Doi K, Doig CJ, Ferrer R, Francois B, Gammelager H, Pedersen UG, Hoste E, Iversen S, Joannidis M, Kellum JA, Liu K, Meersch M, Mehta R, Millington S, Murray PT, Nichol A, Ostermann M, Pettilä V, Solling C, Winkel M, Young PJ, Zarbock A, REVIVAL investigators. Phase-3 trial of recombinant human alkaline phosphatase for patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (REVIVAL). Intensive care medicine 2024. PMID: 38172296


  35. Wald R, Gaudry S, da Costa BR, Adhikari NKJ, Bellomo R, Du B, Gallagher MP, Hoste EA, Lamontagne F, Joannidis M, Liu KD, McAuley DF, McGuinness SP, Nichol AD, Ostermann M, Palevsky PM, Qiu H, Pettilä V, Schneider AG, Smith OM, Vaara ST, Weir M, Dreyfuss D, Bagshaw SM, STARRT-AKI Investigators. Initiation of continuous renal replacement therapy versus intermittent hemodialysis in critically ill patients with severe acute kidney injury: a secondary analysis of STARRT-AKI trial. Intensive care medicine 2023. PMID: 37815560


  36. Schell-Chaple HM, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Sessler DI, Puntillo KA. Effects of IV Acetaminophen on Core Body Temperature and Hemodynamic Responses in Febrile Critically Ill Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Critical care medicine 2017. PMID: 28319467


  37. Park M, Hsu CY, Go AS, Feldman HI, Xie D, Zhang X, Mifflin T, Waikar SS, Sabbisetti VS, Bonventre JV, Coresh J, Nelson RG, Kimmel PL, Kusek JW, Rahman M, Schelling JR, Vasan RS, Liu KD. Urine Kidney Injury Biomarkers and Risks of Cardiovascular Disease Events and All-Cause Death: The CRIC Study. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN 2017. PMID: 28254771


  38. Chawla LS, Bellomo R, Bihorac A, Goldstein SL, Siew ED, Bagshaw SM, Bittleman D, Cruz D, Endre Z, Fitzgerald RL, Forni L, Kane-Gill SL, Hoste E, Koyner J, Liu KD, Macedo E, Mehta R, Murray P, Nadim M, Ostermann M, Palevsky PM, Pannu N, Rosner M, Wald R, Zarbock A, Ronco C, Kellum JA, Acute Disease Quality Initiative Workgroup 16.. Acute kidney disease and renal recovery: consensus report of the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) 16 Workgroup. Nature reviews. Nephrology 2017. PMID: 28239173


  39. Hendrickson CM, Abbott J, Zhuo H, Liu KD, Calfee CS, Matthay MA. Higher mini-BAL total protein concentration in early ARDS predicts faster resolution of lung injury measured by more ventilator-free days. American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology 2017. PMID: 28213470


  40. Waikar SS, Sabbisetti V, Ärnlöv J, Carlsson AC, Coresh J, Feldman HI, Foster MC, Fufaa GD, Helmersson-Karlqvist J, Hsu CY, Kimmel PL, Larsson A, Liu Y, Lind L, Liu KD, Mifflin TE, Nelson RG, Risérus U, Vasan RS, Xie D, Zhang X, Bonventre JV. Relationship of proximal tubular injury to chronic kidney disease as assessed by urinary kidney injury molecule-1 in five cohort studies. Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association 2016. PMID: 27270293


  41. McSparron JI, Hayes MM, Poston JT, Thomson CC, Fessler HE, Stapleton RD, Carlos WG, Hinkle L, Liu K, Shieh S, Ali A, Rogers A, Shah NG, Slack D, Patel B, Wolfe K, Schweickert WD, Bakhru RN, Shin S, Sell RE, Luks AM. ATS Core Curriculum 2016: Part II. Adult Critical Care Medicine. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2016. PMID: 27144797


  42. Ghannoum M, Wiegand TJ, Liu KD, Calello DP, Godin M, Lavergne V, Gosselin S, Nolin TD, Hoffman RS, EXTRIP workgroup. Extracorporeal treatment for theophylline poisoning: systematic review and recommendations from the EXTRIP workgroup. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.) 2015. PMID: 25715736


  43. Fufaa GD, Weil EJ, Nelson RG, Hanson RL, Bonventre JV, Sabbisetti V, Waikar SS, Mifflin TE, Zhang X, Xie D, Hsu CY, Feldman HI, Coresh J, Vasan RS, Kimmel PL, Liu KD. Association of urinary KIM-1, L-FABP, NAG and NGAL with incident end-stage renal disease and mortality in American Indians with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia 2014. PMID: 25316431


  44. Liu KD, Dong N, Truwit JD. Rosuvastatin for sepsis-associated ARDS. The New England journal of medicine 2014. PMID: 25184876


  45. Lameire NH, Bagga A, Cruz D, De Maeseneer J, Endre Z, Kellum JA, Liu KD, Mehta RL, Pannu N, Van Biesen W, Vanholder R. Acute kidney injury: an increasing global concern. Lancet (London, England) 2013. PMID: 23727171


  46. Lavergne V, Nolin TD, Hoffman RS, Roberts D, Gosselin S, Goldfarb DS, Kielstein JT, Mactier R, Maclaren R, Mowry JB, Bunchman TE, Juurlink D, Megarbane B, Anseeuw K, Winchester JF, Dargan PI, Liu KD, Hoegberg LC, Li Y, Calello DP, Burdmann EA, Yates C, Laliberté M, Decker BS, Mello-Da-Silva CA, Lavonas E, Ghannoum M. The EXTRIP (EXtracorporeal TReatments In Poisoning) workgroup: guideline methodology. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.) 2012. PMID: 22578059


  47. Liu KD. Acute kidney injury: is acute kidney injury a risk factor for long-term mortality? Nature reviews. Nephrology 2010. PMID: 20585317