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AASV Foundation Announces Recipients of Hogg Scholarship
February 28, 2021 — AASV Staff
Drs Melissa Billing, Kate Dion, and Joseph Thomas were named the 2021 recipients of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Foundation Hogg Scholarship during the American Association of Swine Veterinarian's 52nd Annual Meeting, held virtually, on February 28, 2021.
Established in 2008, the scholarship is named for Dr Alex Hogg who was a leader in swine medicine and pursued a master's degree in veterinary pathology after 20 years in a mixed-animal practice. The scholarship is awarded annually to an AASV member who has been accepted into a qualified graduate program to further his or her education after years as a swine practitioner. Former Hogg Scholarship recipients Alex Ramirez, Angela Baysinger, and Meghann Pierdon reviewed the 2021 applications.
Dr Billing earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2005. After 10 years with Smithfield Foods as a swine production veterinarian, she joined Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health as a swine key account veterinarian. Dr Billing has been active in the AASV since veterinary school. For the past three years, she has served on the AASV Board of Directors, representing the northeastern part of the United States. She has chaired the Operation Main Street committee, served on the annual meeting planning committee. She plans to apply the Hogg Scholarship to help fund her master of veterinary science degree with a concentration in livestock systems health at the University of Illinois.
After receiving her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2011 from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr Dion joined Hanor Company, where she serves as a veterinarian and the animal well-being/quality assurance manager. Because of her continued interest in learning, she began taking online classes through the Graduate Certificate Program in Veterinary Preventive Medicine through Iowa State University. She formally transferred her credits into a full master's degree program at Iowa State University, under the direction of Drs Daniel Linhares and Derald Holtkamp, in 2019. Her current research concentrates on biosecurity and understanding how pathogens enter negative herds. In the true spirit of Dr Hogg, Dr Dion works hard to disseminate her findings to help support swine veterinarians.
Dr Thomas earned his Master of Science and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Iowa State University in 2016. As Dr Hogg served his country in the Navy, Dr Thomas served in the US Army Veterinary Corps during 2016-2019. After his uniformed service duty, Dr Thomas joined AMVC as an associate veterinarian. He returned to Iowa State University as a post-doctoral research associate and diagnostician trainee in 2020, where he began his work toward a PhD in veterinary microbiology in January 2021. Dr Thomas plans to use the scholarship to help him quickly and efficiently complete his PhD.