Dongyan Xu Niu, PhD MSc

Associate Professor, University of Calgary

I am an Associate Professor, who joined Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary in September 2017. I am also adjunct Associate Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary and University of Alberta, as well as leading the Microbiology Laboratory of the Advancing Canadian Water Assets, Calgary.

I have extensive expertise in zoonotic pathogens, bacteriophages, food safety, antimicrobial resistance and animal infectious disease. I received training in bacteriology, virology, animal science and biotechnology, molecular biology, biochemical engineering as well as food science and technology. Before joining the faculty, I worked in Alberta Agriculture Government as a Beef Virologist. I gained doctoral degree from Dalian University of Technology, China and received training of bacteriology, virology, biochemistry and biotechnology in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada where I conducted a joint PhD program and postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Tim McAllister and Dr. Kim Stanford.

As Principal Investigator and co-PI, she has secured over $9.2 million in research funding from agencies such as NSERC, CIHR, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, as well as national and provincial industry and government partners. I have authored 67 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals (e.g. Advanced Science). Dedicated to training the next generation of scientists, I have mentored over 60 highly qualified personnel at all career stages. In 2025, I received the UCVM Award for Research Excellence in recognition of her internationally recognized contributions to veterinary medical science.