Dr. Lijuan Yuan is a full Professor of Virology and Immunology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. She received a master’s degree in virology and immunology at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Immunology, the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China; a Ph.D. degree in virology and immunology at the Food Animal Health Research Program, Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Ohio, USA in 2000; and completed her post-doctoral training at the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA in 2002.

Dr. Yuan's research interest focuses on host-pathogen interactions in enteric viruses including infectivity, pathogenesis and immunity, and on intervention strategies to reduce viral diarrhea including prophylactics, therapeutics, vaccines and influences of probiotics/prebiotics and gut microbiota. Her lab has studied the pathogenesis of human rotavirus and norovirus, the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of various rotavirus and norovirus vaccines, adjuvants and immunization routes using gnotobiotic (Gn) pigs as a model. The findings from Gn pigs are highly translatable to humans because pigs are genetically and immunologically similar to humans. The research activities in Yuan laboratory are supported by grants from NIH, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, and various international vaccine companies. She has published 120 scientific publications, including a monograph titled "Vaccine Efficacy Evaluation: The Gnotobiotic Pig Model". She has mentored 8 Ph.D. students as a major advisor (https://academictree.org/microbiology/tree.php?pid=275786) and an additional 18 Ph.D. students as a faculty advisory committee member. She teaches Molecular Virology lectures to graduate students and Emerging Infectious Diseases lectures to DVM students. She received Pfizer Award for Research Excellence in 2011, the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award from Graduate School, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2017, and Grant Turnwald Innovation Award from Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, 2020-2021.