Dr Luna Xu joined SPHCM as Scientia lecturer, UNSW with Heart Foundation post-doctoral fellowship in July 2020. Dr Xu has nursing degree in China (2009), Masters by research of advanced nursing study in the United Kingdom (2011), Masters of Public Health (2012) and PhD (2016) at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Dr Xu is an executive member of NSW, Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG), a member of the 2019 AAG Conference planning committee, a member of the 2019 Emerging Researchers in Ageing (ERA) Conference planning committee. Dr Xu is also an affiliate member of Cardiovascular Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), an executive member of the CSANZ Cardiovascular Nursing Council, and active in the NSW Cardiovascular Research Network's Rising Stars Network for Early and Mid-Career Researchers.

Dr Xu research focus is on population health; in particular, the importance of healthy eating for primary/secondary prevention of chronic diseases in older people. Dr Xu has attracted >$450K of research funding through a combination of funders including: The National Heart Foundation fellowship, Uniting, University of Technology Sydney, University of Newcastle and SPHERE - Age and Ageing Clinical Academic Group. Dr Xu has been working on numbers of projects include the ARC Linkage-funded project and NHMRC Partnership Project-funded projects. Dr Xu has also contributed to government and non-government report, such as: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs;  World Health Organization, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Uniting.