David C. Nieman

David C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM is a Professor in the Department of Biology within the College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University and serves as Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis, NC. With over three decades of pioneering research in exercise immunology, Dr. Nieman has established himself as a leader in understanding the relationship between physical activity, nutrition, and immune function.

Dr. Nieman's research interests focus on exercise and nutrition immunology, with particular emphasis on how regular moderate exercise lowers upper respiratory tract infection rates while improving immunosurveillance, how heavy exertion increases infection rates through transient immune changes, and how nutritional interventions like carbohydrate and flavonoid ingestion can mitigate exercise-induced inflammation. His current work employs multi-omics approaches to investigate nutritional products as countermeasures for exercise- and obesity-induced immune dysfunction, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Dr. Nieman has received more than $10.9 million in research grants and published over 370 peer-reviewed publications, earning a Google Scholar h-index of 101 with over 41,000 citations. His recent work shows increasing focus on metabolomics, proteomics, and microbiome research to understand exercise-induced immune changes at a molecular level, with particular attention to nutritional interventions involving flavonoids, cranberry, beetroot, and other plant compounds.

His scientific recognition includes:

• 100 Scholars Faculty Research Award from ASU (1997)
• Montoye Scholar Award from Southeastern American College of Sports Medicine (2006)
• ASU College of Fine and Applied Arts Researcher of the Year Award (2006)
• ACSM's Citation Award (2013)
• Multiple nominations for ASU's highest honor, the Oliver Max Gardner Award

Dr. Nieman serves as Editor-in-Chief for the sports nutrition sections of Nutrients and Frontiers in Nutrition journals and sits on 10 editorial boards including Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. He has served in leadership roles as vice-president of the American College of Sports Medicine, president of SEACSM, and two-term president of the International Society of Exercise and Immunology. His work extends beyond academia as he has completed 58 marathons, demonstrating his personal commitment to the principles he researches.