Veterinary students, are you planning a swine-based externship experience? The AASV Foundation provides grants of $200 to $500 to veterinary students who complete an externship of at least two (2) weeks in a swine practice or a mixed practice with a considerable swine component. Any AASV student member in veterinary school who fulfills the requirements is eligible to apply. More information can be found at www.aasv.org/students/externgrant.htm.

Student members of AASV have access to a database of swine-oriented internship and externship opportunities, found at www.aasv.org/internships/index.php. All AASV members who would like their internship and externship opportunities included in this directory are encouraged to contact Jonathan Tubbs, AASV student delegate (aasvstudentdelegate@gmail.com), for more information.

Canon hired as Director of Communications

The American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) welcomes Dr Abbey Canon as Director of Communications. Canon accepted the position currently held by Dr Harry Snelson, who will assume the position of Executive Director on June 1 after 13 years as Director of Communications.

Canon joins the AASV from the Center for Food Security and Public Health (CFSPH) at Iowa State University. At CFSPH, a key aspect of her role was establishing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders. She managed a nationally collaborative project, of which the purpose was to foster partnerships with public health, animal health, and youth agricultural organizations to prevent zoonotic influenza and other zoonoses among youth involved in animal agriculture. She also developed new and updated existing training modules for the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Veterinary Accreditation Program.

In addition to earning her DVM from Iowa State University in 2011, Canon also holds a Master of Public Health and is board certified as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventative Medicine. As a postdoctoral research associate at Iowa State University’s Swine Medicine Education Center, she trained 4th year swine veterinary students and developed curriculum primarily focused on food safety, public health, and occupational safety. She currently chairs the AASV Human Health and Safety Committee.

Dr Tom Burkgren, AASV Executive Director, noted, “I am thrilled for Dr Canon to join the AASV staff. She brings with her a great background in the areas of communication, education, and public health within the veterinary medical community.”

During 2012 to 2014, Canon served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer (EISO) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assigned to the Wisconsin Division of Public Health’s Bureau of Communicable Diseases and Emergency Response. As an EISO, she was responsible for responding to urgent or emergent public health threats and communicating critical messages to lay and scientific audiences.

Dr Canon says, “I am so excited to serve AASV in this role. I enjoy education and outreach and am looking forward to strengthening relationships within the AASV, the veterinary profession, and beyond. If we haven’t met, please introduce yourself in Orlando!”

Dr Canon started in her new role on February 4, 2019. Please join us in welcoming Abbey to the AASV staff.

AASV Annual Meeting proceedings online

The proceedings of the 2019 AASV Annual Meeting are available at www.aasv.org/annmtg/proceedings for members to download.

The proceedings are available in the following formats:

• The “big book” of all the regular session papers in a single PDF file with a linked table of contents
• Seminar booklets: a PDF file for each seminar
• Individual papers in the Swine Information Library: www.aasv.org/library/swineinfo/

To access the files, make sure your AASV membership has been renewed for 2019. You’ll need your AASV website username and password to log in. If they are not handy, contact the AASV office or use the “Reset Password” link in the upper right of the AASV Web site (www.aasv.org) to have them emailed to you.

Alternate Student Delegate selected for AASV Board

The AASV Student Recruitment Committee is pleased to announce the selection of Jamie Madigan (NCSU, 2021) as the incoming Alternate Student Delegate to the AASV Board of Directors. Madigan’s passion for swine medicine started during high school while she was working on a grow-finish farm. “I enjoyed walking the barn, and working directly with the pigs, from cleaning feeders to vaccinations,” Madigan recalls. A porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome outbreak piqued her interest in swine health and prompted her to contact Dr Billy Flowers at North Carolina State University (NCSU). This led to a job at the NCSU swine unit where she learned about treatment options and how proper daily management and nutrition could play a key role in the health of each pig. These experiences solidified her desire to become a swine veterinarian.

She was selected as the Swine Scholar in the Food Animal Scholars program at NCSU. This meant that Madigan had secured a seat at the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) that would allow her to follow her dream to become a swine veterinarian. Prior to entering the NCSU CVM, she took advantage of an opportunity to work with Smithfield Hog Production under Dr Jeremy Pittman. Working with Dr Pittman afforded her the opportunity to routinely visit farms, conduct research projects, and work side-by-side with veterinarians, contract producers, farm managers, and employees - providing a wealth of practical experience.

During her first year at the NCSU CVM, Madigan developed the first food animal speed-networking event at NCSU called Building Bridges. The event allowed a group of food animal veterinarians an opportunity to meet with students to discuss their career, give advice, and simply interact with future veterinarians. She hopes this will become an annual event.

Following Madigan’s first year of veterinary school, she had the pleasure of working with Dr Joshua Duff at Goldsboro Milling, Co through the Swine Veterinary Internship Program. While working with him, she gained additional clinical skills and conducted a vaccination protocol comparison trial, which will be presented during the poster session at AASV.

Upon graduation, Madigan hopes to enter practice and continue to work with AASV to help contribute to the continued connection of swine-interested veterinary students with mentors that will help cultivate their passion for this profession.

Madigan assumes her duties as Alternate Student Delegate during the 2019 AASV Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. The previous alternate delegate, Jonathan Tubbs (Auburn, 2020), has assumed the delegate position previously held by Jordan Gebhardt (Kansas State University, 2019), who has rotated off the board. Jonathan and Jamie will represent student interests within AASV as non-voting members of the Board of Directors and the Student Recruitment Committee. Please join us in welcoming Jamie to the AASV Board of Directors and thanking Jordan for his service!