Speakers
Ethan Aljets
Ethan graduated from ISU in 2021 with a biology degree. He has been a student under Dr. JQ Zhang in the ISU VDL virology lab since 2019.
Marcelo Almeida
Marcelo Almeida received his DVM degree from the University of Brasilia in 2003, a Masters Degree in Preventive Veterinary Medicine by the Federal University of State of Rio Grande do Sul in 2006, and a Ph.D. in Population Sciences in Animal Health from the Iowa State University in 2020. Marcelo has been working with the swine industry for the last 20 years with roles in a vertically integrated pork producer, genetic supplier, and pharmaceutical company. Marcelo is currently an assistant professor and food animal diagnostician at the ISU-VDL.
Bailey Arruda
Bailey Arruda is a Research Veterinary Medical Officer at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Ames, IA. She received her DVM and Pathology PhD at Iowa State University.
Lisa Becton
Dr. Becton is the Associate Director for the Swine Health Information Center supporting the mission to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd by minimizing the impact of emerging disease threats. Prior to 2024, Dr. Becton was a Director of Swine Health with the National Pork Board with a focus on swine health production and research.
Tyler Bauman
Dr. Bauman is a graduate of Iowa State University CVM in the Class of 2016. Since graduation, he has served as a herd veterinarian with the Maschhoffs where he focuses primarily on health of finishing pigs in Iowa. He currently resides in Eldora, IA with his wife Casey and 3 boys where they raise cattle, sheep, horses and an assortment of poultry.
PJ Corns
PJ Corns is the Technical Director for JBS Live Pork, Greeley, CO. Responsible for the specialized focus of nearly 240,000 sows, boar studs and gilt development units across the Midwest. PJ has spent his entire career forging world class results with every step from managing large sow units in North Carolina, to working internationally with PIC and his own consultancy firm where his involvement in well over 2 million sows was driven by delivering results based upon proven protocols, system maximization, people development and biosecurity implementation and execution. PJ joined JBS in his current role in September, 2021.
Jessica Davenport
A South Carolina native, she started as a staff veterinarian with JBS Live Pork in 2017 and currently resides in Columbia, MO. She received her senior veterinarian title in 2021 and was recognized as the Young Swine Veterinarian of the year in 2023. Working with a fantastic team of veterinarians, she has had the opportunity to oversee health decisions for multiplication, sow, and grow-finish farms within the avenues of commercial, No Antibiotic Ever, and Prop 12 production.
Kate Dion
Dr. Kate Dion received her DVM from Iowa State University in 2011 completed the Executive Veterinary Program in Swine Health Management at the University of Illinois in 2016. She spent 11 years working for the HANOR Company as a veterinary and animal well-being and quality assurance manager. Kate is currently a post-doctoral research associate at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine and working on a PhD in Population Sciences in Animal Health. Her research focuses on biosecurity, disease risk assessment, and applied field epidemiology.
Gabi Doughan
Dr. Gabi Doughan is a post-doctoral research associate with the Swine Medicine Education Center (SMEC) at Iowa State University. She obtained her DVM from ISU in 2021. Her current position is a mix of educating veterinary students, working towards her Masters and PhD, and professional practice. Dr. Doughan’s research is focused on water biology including identifying the composition of the biofilm and water line disinfection methods in swine farms.
Luc Dufresne
Luc Dufresne is currently a Swine Veterinarian from St. George, Quebec, Canada. Dr Dufresne obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Montreal in 1988. Following graduation, he accepted a position as staff veterinarian with Shur-Gain in St-Hughes, Quebec, Canada. In this position, his responsibilities included supervision of the health of the swine multiplication pyramid and commercial herd. In 1990, he transitioned into the role of swine consultant with Shur-Gain in Brossard, Quebec, Canada, where he supervised the veterinary staff and was the health advisor for the company’s internal swine production unit, as well as a customer network of 50,000 sows. Dr Dufresne moved to Warsaw, North Carolina, in 1997 to become the director of health services at Brown’s of Carolina. He supervised the swine health department and personnel for a 115,000-sow pyramid in North Carolina. Since leaving Brown’s in 2001, Dufresne served as a technical services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim and then for Pig Improvement Company before joining Seaboard Foods as the Director of Health Assurance in 2004-2023.
Corrine Fruge
Herd Veterinarian with the Maschhoffs for 7 years. Covers herd health in the Great Plains Region which includes Nebraska and Wyoming. Currently lives in Arnold, NE with her family.
Nick Gabler
Dr. Nicholas Gabler is the inaugural John F. Patience Professor in Swine Nutrition in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA. He obtained his Bachelors of Agricultural Science and Ph.D. from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He has completed postdoctoral research at both Purdue and Iowa State Universities, before joining the Animal Science Department at Iowa State University in 2008 as an assistant professor in fundamental swine nutrition and metabolism. Presently, Dr. Gabler has an active and diverse research program that focuses on understanding and improving swine feed efficiency, nutrition by health, lean tissue accretion and intestinal physiology of pigs. He utilized both basic and applied, cellular and whole animal approaches. He has been active as an author and co-author and has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and review papers. Further, he has presented his research at regional, national and international meetings. His research is making important scientific contributions to swine production and science.
Lucina Galina
Dr. Lucina Galina is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine who also holds a PhD in swine medicine from the University of Minnesota. She is currently employed at the Pig Improvement Company where she serves as the director of technical research projects. One of the most exciting areas she works with is the management of the technical aspects of the PRRS-resistant pig project, among other innovative projects.
Jordan Graham
Originally from a diversified crop/cattle/hog farm near Cherokee, IA, I graduated high school in 2006 in Brandon, SD. In 2010 I earned a BS in Animal Science from South Dakota State University and continued on to Iowa State University College of Vet Med where I completed my DVM and MS in 2014. After completing my DVM I worked as a Veterinarian and Western Iowa Wean-to-Market Production Director for The Maschhoffs before joining the Swine Vet Center in 2017. Today I service a wide range of clients, primarily in NW IA, SW MN, and SD ranging from 600 sow farrow-to-finish operations to large integrated production systems. I live in Milford, IA with my wife and two daughters.
Laura Greiner
Dr. Laura Greiner is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center at Iowa State University. She currently focuses 50% of her time on extension, with the remaining time divided between teaching undergraduate students about swine production and conducting research. She currently has 4 graduate students with her main research focused around gilt and sow development and reproduction associated with nutrition and disease. Prior to starting at Iowa State University, she spent 13 years at Carthage Innovative Swine Solutions where she served as the Director of Research and oversaw a research program that had 6,000 sow research spaces, 4,800 wean to finish spaces and a private Biosafety level 2 facility. She is passionate about the nutrition of the reproductive female and also educating the next generation of animal scientists.
Dan Grooms
Dan Grooms, DVM, PhD, became the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University on October 1, 2018. At Iowa State Grooms oversees the College of Veterinary Medicine, its five academic departments, the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center including the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital and the Large Animal Hospital, and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Prior to coming to Iowa State, Grooms was a professor, extension veterinarian, administrator and researcher at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine since 1997.
Jason Hocker
DVM – Iowa State University 2005, MS – Iowa State University 2006, Managing Partner for AMVC headquartered in Audubon, IA
Swaminathan Jayaraman
Swami Jayaraman is a graduate student in “Population Sciences in Animal Health” at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Production Animal Medicine (ISU VDPAM) department. Under the mentorship of Dr. Gustavo Silva and Dr. Daniel Linhares, he is pursuing a Ph.D. focusing on swine disease surveillance and monitoring. In parallel, Swami is contributing part-time to the ISU Diagnostic Lab. His background encompasses information system design, application development, and data visualization, skills he now applies to develop a digital ecosystem to monitor and report pathogen activity.
Clayton Johnson
Clayton is a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois and has worked for both The Maschhoffs and Carthage Veterinary Service throughout his career. Awarded the 2020 Leman Science in Practice Award, Clayton focuses on bringing sound science to his clients. Clayton worked with clients of all sizes and production types throughout the world.
Logan Johnson
Logan Johnson is originally from Rosholt, South Dakota, where he grew up on a beef cattle farm and later completed a Bachelor’s in Food Science at South Dakota State University. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Iowa State University in the Lonergan Lab, where he earned his Master’s and Ph.D. in Meat Science. Through his Ph.D., Logan has applied mass spectrometry-based proteomics and metabolomics to applications and research questions related to meat science. He hopes to continue utilizing these technologies to advance fundamental knowledge about issues facing the livestock and food industries.
Locke Karriker
Dr. Karriker is a Morrill Professor focused on swine medicine in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine (VDPAM) and is the inaugural holder of the Dr. Douglas and Ann Gustafson Professorship for Teaching Excellence in Veterinary Medicine. His position is a mix of teaching (50%), professional practice (25%), research (20%), and university service (5%) activities focused on supporting the development of swine veterinarians and practitioners globally. Dr. Karriker is the Director of the Swine Medicine Education Center and formally served as a voting member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) for the United States. His research work is currently focused on antimicrobial stewardship, adapting telehealth technology for teaching, and water supply biosecurity. Dr. Karriker is an alumnus and Morehead Scholar of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (’95), earned his DVM (’99) and MS (’00) degrees from Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine and became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventative Medicine in 2006. He completed the Executive Veterinary Program in Swine Health Management at the University of Illinois in 2009. Recently, Dr. Karriker was included in the founding cohort of distinguished experts for the Academy of Veterinary Educators. Dr. Karriker collaborates extensively leading to approximately 661 publications, $9.5 million in competitive funding, and 61 successful graduate students.
Daniel Linhares
After working for 9 years in the field with technical services, production, health assurance, and supply chain, I joined Iowa State University in 2015. Currently, I serve as Professor & Director of Graduate education and work with the fieldepi.org team on development and evaluation of solutions to improve swine health and productivity.
Isadora Machado
Isadora Machado obtained her DVM in Brazil (2018). For over a year, she studied livestock and worked in a swine production system in Germany. She also worked for 3 years as a swine herd veterinarian and health assurance at BRF Company in Brazil. In 2023, she obtained her MS degree, and currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. degree at Iowa State University.
Rodger Main
Rodger Main is a Professor and Director of the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISU VDL). ISU VDL’s team of 180 faculty and staff play an active role on the frontlines of US animal agriculture processing approximately 120,000 diagnostic case submissions and conducting more than 1.5 million diagnostic assays annually. Rodger has also been providing leadership to a highly collaborative effort that is developing a US Swine Health Improvement Plan (US SHIP) being modeled after the basic tenets of the longstanding National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). Prior to coming to the ISU VDL, Dr. Main served as the Director of Production Systems for Smithfield’s Hog Production Operations located throughout the Midwest and Western US, where he had worked since graduating veterinary school in 1996.
Christine Mainquist-Whigham
Christine Mainquist-Whigham is the Director of Health for Pillen Family Farms/DNA Genetics Nucleus. Her role includes overseeing the health of the system’s sows as well as the downstream nursery and finishing. A native of Stanton, Iowa, she earned a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2012. In 2016 she received her DVM and MS in veterinary preventive medicine from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Christine resides in Columbus, NE with her husband Alex and son Callum.
Daniel Moraes
Dr. Moraes obtained his DVM at the State University of Londrina, Brazil. In 2016, he obtained his Master’s in Business Administration at ESALQ, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2020, He obtained his Master of Science at the State University of Londrina, Brazil. In 2022, He obtained his Master of Science at the State at Iowa State University. During this time, he worked as a swine veterinarian for 8 years in a technical and commercial position in the swine industry in Brazil. He is currently working towards his PhD, which is focused on the Influenza A virus’s ecology in the swine population, as surveillance, diagnostics, and macroepidemiological aspects of the Influenza A virus (IAV) in the United States. Dr. Moraes is also a Real Pork Scholar from the National Pork Board cohort that started Fall of 2023.
Bryan Myers
Dr. Myers graduated from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1988. After practicing for 20 years in a mixed animal practice in NE Iowa he has spent the last 16 years with Pipestone Veterinary Services. He concentrates his time on swine health and production with a special emphasis on disease elimination.
Rabsa Naseer
Rabsa Naseer is a graduate research assistant at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, working under Dr. Giovani Trevisan and Dr. Philip Gauger. Her role within the VDL is to provide clients with phylogenetic trees and bioinformatic support. Her current research focuses on PRRSV epidemiology and understanding the association with clinical and diagnostic data.
Mariah Negri Musskopf
DVM at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in 2021; Worked as a field vet for JBS finisher sites for 2 years before moving here for her Masters.
Henry Osemeke
Dr. Osemeke currently serves as a Postdoctoral Associate within the Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, operating under Dr. Danial Linhares’s direct supervision and mentorship. Before assuming this postdoctoral role, Dr. Osemeke dedicated his research efforts to identifying and addressing practical challenges associated with disease surveillance in swine populations across the United States, studies from which he obtained his Master’s and Doctorate degrees. In his current capacity, Dr. Osemeke remains committed to delivering data-driven, evidence-based solutions to issues on disease surveillance. Additionally, he coordinates projects focused on the economic aspects of swine diseases in the United States and biosecurity challenges within the country’s swine populations. Dr. Osemeke actively teaches and mentors graduate students, offering consultation services on disease surveillance, biosecurity, disease economics, and the comprehensive management of data for veterinarians, practitioners, and companies. He is a lover of good music and the game of chess.
Mafalda Pedro Mil-Homens
Dr. Mafalda Mil-Homens got her DVM at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Lisbon, Portugal, where she also pursued a Master’s focused on dairy cattle biosecurity. Dr. Mil-Homens worked in data analysis, dairy cattle biosecurity, and welfare before starting her second Master’s at Iowa State University (ISU) under Dr. Silva’s supervision in 2021. Dr. Mil-Homens is pursuing a PhD focused on using operational data to develop surveillance systems in swine farms at ISU.
Reid Philips
Graduated from ISU College of Veterinary Medicine in 1981 and practiced in Iowa and Nebraska to 1994 with focus on swine production medicine. Joined NOBL Labs (Sioux Center, Iowa) as a Technical Service Vet in 1994, and continued as a Technical Service Vet when Boehringer Ingelheim acquired NOBL Labs in 1997. Since 2003 have worked as the Technical Manager for PRRS within the Boehringer Swine Team focusing on field applicable control and management solutions for swine veterinarians and producers.
Ana Paula Poeta Silva
Dr. Poeta Silva received her DVM and Master’s in epidemiology at the University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She obtained her PhD in animal population medicine at Iowa State University regarding the control and surveillance of M. hyopneumoniae. Currently, she is a postdoc research associate coordinating the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus Outbreak Management Program and has active research in traditional concepts of epidemiology and infectious diseases applied to livestock systems, disease management, and diagnostic data.
Chris Rademacher
Dr. Chris Rademacher is a Clinical Professor and Swine Extension Veterinarian at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine as well as the Associate Director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center at Iowa State University. In December, 2014 he joined the faculty at Iowa State University after serving for 16 years as a Director of Health for New Fashion Pork and Director of Production Improvement for Smithfield Foods.
Mike Roof
Mike has over 25 years of experience in the Animal Health and vaccine Industry and currently serves at the Chief Technology Officer for the State of Iowa Bioscience initiative – CTO Vaccines, Diagnostics, and Immunotherapeutics. He has past work experience with NOBL Laboratories and Boehringer Ingelheim. He has participated in mergers, acquisitions, and integration of Fort Dodge Laboratories and Merial. During his tenure with Boehringer Ingelheim he served as Global Head of Vaccine R&D with leadership positions in locally (Ames/Iowa), Regionally (Iowa/Missouri), and Globally (Hannover Germany/Shanghai China). He has over 25 patents with USPTO and co-authored over 45 papers. He has contributed to over 10 USDA and globally licensed vaccines. He has a strong partnership with the Iowa State University Research Park, Iowa State University, University of Iowa, National Animal Disease Center, Ames Economic Development Commission, Iowa Economic Development Authority and local business partners which support commercialization efforts and job creation. Mike earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Iowa State University and lives in Ames with his wife, Jill. They have two adult children.
Carlos Roudergue
Dr. Carlos Roudergue began his career as an independent practitioner working with various swine producers in Chile, before serving as a Swine Veterinarian for Agrosuper, company that owns and manage 140,000 sows and produce about 4 million hogs annually. In 2012, he joined Boehringer Ingelheim as Swine Technical Manager for South America, focusing on health programs and collaborating with veterinarians in large production systems. In 2018, he moved to the U.S. to work with Country View Family Farms, initially as Sow Production Manager and later as Training and Development Manager, earning his Green Belt Lean Six Sigma Certification in 2022, and in 2023, he served as Prop 12 Project Manager. Dr. Roudergue holds a DVM from Universidad Mayor, an MBA from Adolfo Ibáñez School of Business, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Veterinary Preventive Medicine at Iowa State University.
Declan Schroeder
Since 2018, Dr. Schroeder has been employed at the University of Minnesota as an Associate Professor in Virology in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. His overarching research objectives are to develop molecular-based research approaches and tools, rooted in both the Life Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, to provide a mechanistic understanding as how to best intervene or mitigate the negative impact that viruses may have on food animals and associated organisms in the modern food system.
Lee Schulz
Lee Schulz is an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Iowa State University and serves as the statewide extension specialist on livestock economics and markets. His areas of focus are in marketing, price analysis, and risk management for the beef cattle and pork industries.
Joel Sparks
Joel Sparks is a swine veterinarian with AMVC, a progressive agribusiness comprised of diverse entities all committed to improving livestock production and animal wellbeing. AMVC is headquartered in Audubon, IA and provides management and veterinary services across several states. Joining AMVC in 2015, Joel is responsible for AMVC farms in Indiana and Illinois. Joel and his wife Ashley live in West Lafayette, Indiana with their four children.
Joe Thomas
Joe grew up on a farrow to finish pig farm in Camanche, IA and attended Vet school/Graduate school at Iowa State University. He served for 3 years in the US Army Veterinary Corps and then worked as an associated veterinarian for AMVC before returning to the ISU VDL. He is now a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists.
Thinh Tran Pham Tien
Thinh is a graduate student in Veterinary Preventive Medicine, who obtained his DVM degree through a collaborative program between Nong Lam University (Vietnam) and the University of Queensland (Australia). Following his DVM, he gained over two years of experience in a porcine enterprise Japfa Comfeed Vietnam with 70,000 sows, where he initially was an assistant to Production Senior Manager of a complete production system from sow farm to finisher. After being promoted to Technical Support Assistant Manager, Thinh served as a Production Coordinator, responsible for managing pig flow, including weaning piglets and gilt planning, production data analysis, and production forecast.
Giovani Trevisan
Dr. Trevisan earned his DVM degree from Santa Catarina State University, Brazil, 2009; an MBA from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil, 2013. After practicing for almost 8 years Dr. Trevisan joined Iowa State University in 2017, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Population Sciences in Animal Health, in 2020. Currently, Dr. Trevisan is a Research Assistant Professor at the Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department at Iowa State University, where he conducts work with an emphasis on veterinary diagnostic data and field-applied epidemiological research to generate information to support stakeholders in making informed decisions on disease management and control. Dr. Trevisan is Co-PI on the Swine Disease Reporting System and also serves as staff for Veterinary Diagnostic & Epidemiologic Information Management for the US Swine Health Improvement Plan
Paul Yeske
Dr Yeske is currently practicing as a swine veterinary consultant in a 16 person, exclusively swine practice at the Swine Vet Center in St. Peter MN. Graduated from ISU with DVM, University of Minnesota with MS and University of Illinois from the EVP program. Has presented the Howard Dunn lecture and received the Swine Practitioner of the year, Howard Dunn Award, the Science in Practice award from University of Minnesota and Science with Practice award from ISU. Involved with multiple organization and has served on several advisory boards with genetic and pharmaceutical companies. With over 100 invited presentations and multiple publications in proceedings.