Interviews and Oral presentations of key speakers at the 2010 IPVS, Vancouver
In honour of our colleague and friend, the late Dr. Tom Alexander, the IPVS 2010 organizing committee has initiated what we hope and anticipate will become the opening lecture for all future Congresses: the Tom Alexander Memorial Lecture. The lecture will set the theme for the Congress in addition to exploring topical or substantive issues facing the global swine industry or veterinary profession. We are honoured that Dr. D.L. (Hank) Harris, friend and colleague of Tom Alexander, will give this inaugural opening address in Vancouver.
Dr Hank Harris
TOPIC: Pig Health Assurance: Underlying Principles and Future DirectionDr Harris is one of the leading authorities on infectious diseases of swine and related pathogens in humans. He was one of the founders of NOBL Laboratories, a biotechnology company that was acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, as well as having previously served as vice president for PIC USA, a global leader in pig breeding and genetics. He has either been employed by or consulted for PIC from 1973. Harris is a professor in the Animal Science and Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Departments at Iowa State University. In 2005, Harris founded Sirrah Bios, which was later named Harrisvaccines, d/b/a Sirrah Bios. Harrisvaccines specialises in developing recombinant vaccines for swine and shrimp using alphavirus vector technology.
- Interview: 'An unusual friendship'
- Oral Presentation: Pig health assurance - underlying principles and future direction
Prof Dr George Foxcroft
TOPIC: “Application of advanced AI technologies to improve the competitiveness of the pork industry”George Foxcroft obtained both his BSc and PhD degree from the University of Nottingham in England. After holding a faculty position at the University of Nottingham from 1974 to 1988, he moved to Canada in 1988 to an NSERC-Industry Research Chair at the University of Alberta where he was appointed to a prestigious Tier I Canada Research Chair in Swine Reproductive Physiology in 2001. Currently, George leads the Swine Reproduction-Development Program at the University of Alberta, and since 2007 has been Co-Director of the NSERC EmbryoGENE Strategic Research Network. George has trained over 40 PhD/MSc students, and in the last 10 years alone has published over 100 papers and reviews covering the entire R&D spectrum.
- Interview: 'Unlocking the genetic potential of sows and boars'
- Oral Presentation: Application of advanced AI technoloies to improve the competitiveness of the pork industry
Dr Steven McOrist
TOPIC: “Dysentery and Ileitis – High time to tackle the difficult science behind these diseases”Steven McOrist has worked in research and academic roles for the global pig industry for over 30 years, focusing on enteric bacterial diseases, particularly Lawsonia infections. He has taught enteric diseases and pig medicine in the UK, Australia and the USA. He has performed full-time technical roles and consultancies with Chinese, European and Australian pig agribusiness groups. He is now director of Swine Research at the new veterinary school at the University of Nottingham in England.
- Interview: "Lack of investment in swine enteric diseases"
- Oral Presentation: Dysentery and ileitis - High time to tackle the diffiult science behind these diseases
Prof Peter Davies
TOPIC: “Pork Safety: Past Achievements and Future Challenges”Peter Davies is Professor Swine Health and Production at the University of Minnesota in the US. After graduating as a veterinarian at the University of Melbourne, Australia he took up a variety of positions including MAF Professor of Public Health and Food Safety, Massey University, New Zealand and associate Professor of Swine Health and Production, North Carolina State University, USA. His research interests are epidemiology of infectious diseases of swine, including zoonoses, foodborne pathogens in food animal production and disease surveillance systems.
- Interview: "Pork safety: Achievements and future challenges"
- Oral Presentation: Pork safety: Past achievements and future challenges
Dr Jeremy Marchant-Forde
TOPIC: “Social behavior in swine and its impact on welfare”Jeremy Marchant-Forde was raised in Suffolk, UK. He attended the University of Bristol, graduating in 1990 with a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry. He then moved to the University of Cambridge, where he completed his PhD in sow welfare in 1994. He then stayed on at Cambridge as a post-doctoral research associate, working on a project investigating alternative housing systems for farrowing sows. In 1998, Marchant-Forde moved to a faculty position as senior research fellow with De Montfort University School of Agriculture, Lincolnshire. After transfer of this school to the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lincoln in late 2001, he accepted a position as research animal scientist with the USDA-ARS, Livestock Behavior Research Unit. He was made adjunct assistant professor in 2005.
- Interview: "Normal pig behaviour: Key in housing systems"
- Oral Presentation: Social behaviour in swine and its impact on welfare
Dr Douglas G. Burrin
TOPIC: “Role of Nutrition and Intestinal Adaptation in Weanling Pig Health”Doug Burrin received his training in animal science at Purdue University (B.S.) and the University of Nebraska (PhD). He is an associate professor at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) in Houston. His research on nutritional and hormonal regulation of gut development has impacted both pediatric gastroenterology and swine nutrition. Burrin developed an in vivo model in the neonatal pig using novel stable isotopic tracers to quantify the intestinal metabolic fate of major dietary nutrients. His work has advanced the understanding of amino acid nutrition by highlighting the quantitative significance of gut on the dietary requirements. His group established that an important gut hormone, glucagon-like peptide 2, links enteral nutrition to neonatal intestinal growth.
- Interview: "Using weanling pigs to uncover gut secrets"
- Oral Presnetion: Role of nutrition and intestinal adaptation in weanling pig health
Prof Dr David Fraser
TOPIC: Animal Welfare and the Veterinary Profession in a World of Changing ValuesDavid Fraser has had a 39-year career in research and teaching in applied animal behaviour and the scientific study of animal welfare. Since 1997 he has been professor in the Animal Welfare Program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He has served as a scientific advisor on animal welfare to many organisations including the the World Organization for Animal Health (Paris), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome), and the Burger King Corporation (Miami). He has a fondness for pigs and did research on pig behaviour for many years, recording some of his findings in verse. His recent book Understanding Animal Welfare was published in 2008.
- Interview: "Reflection on welfare is in producers' own interest"
- Oral Presentation: Animal welfare and the veterinary profession in a World of Changing Values
Dr Jane Christopher-Hennings
TOPIC: “Progress in Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV): What we know about PRRSV, from basic to applied science: A Historical perspective”Dr Jane Christopher-Hennings was trained in the US, receiving BS and MS degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a DVM from the University of Minnesota. She was in private veterinary practice in South Dakota and at South Dakota State University (SDSU) in a post doctoral position, each for six years. She is currently on faculty at SDSU where she oversees the Molecular Diagnostics testing. She worked on the initial characterisation of the PRRS virus by performing C-sections for obtaining gnotobiotic pigs to confirm Koch’s postulates in identifying the cause of the disease and developed one of the first PCR based tests for describing the pathogenesis and identification of PRRSV in boars and semen.
- Interview: 'Paving the way for a broad protection against PRRS
- Oral Presentation: Progress in Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus: What we know about PRRSV, from basic to applied science: A Historical Perspective
Prof Dr Dominiek Maes
TOPIC: “Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections in pigs: update on epidemiology and control”Prof Dr Dominiek Maes, age 40, performed obtained his DVM (1993) and PhD (1998) degree in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent, Belgium. Thereafter, he worked at the College of Veterinary Medicine in Minnesota, USA. He is professor swine medicine at the department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University. He is president of the Belgian branch of IPVS and vice-President of the European College of Porcine Health Management. His research mainly focuses on reproduction, respiratory disease and veterinary public health. He has more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals and more than 250 presentations on national and international conferences.
- Interview: "Mycoplasma: Still a disease to worry about"
- Oral Presentation: Mycoplasma hycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections in pigs: update on epidemiology and control
Dr. Caroline Fossum
TOPIC: “Porcine Circovirus Type 2: Success and Failure”Caroline Fossum (PhD) Professor in Immunology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. She has during the last ten years received national and international grants for studies of PCV2 at the cellular and molecular levels as well as to follow the emergence of PMWS in mainland Europe and Sweden. She has also been a partner in the EU-STREP Consortium “Control of Porcine Circovirus Diseases: Towards Improved Food Quality and Safety” and chairperson within the immunology subcommittee within this consortium.
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The work of Tom Alexander primarily centred on controlling swine diseases to benefit the breeding stock and commercial pig producer; and his discoveries and keen insight led to the principles of health assurance used world-wide in the industry today. An overview of his contributions to pig disease research and production, beginning with his involvement as an organizer of the first IPVS Congress in 1969, and exemplified by his paper delivered at that meeting concerning the development of disease-free pigs, will be followed by a look to the future.
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