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AASV Holds its 51st Annual Meeting in Atlanta with a 20/20 Vision for the Future

March 13, 2020 — AASV Staff

The American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) held its 51st annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, March 7-10, 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

The meeting participants enjoyed the opportunity to attend numerous educational sessions, including 11 preconference seminars, 2 general sessions, 3 break-out sessions, 1 research topic session, 3 industrial partners sessions, the student seminar, and a poster session featuring posters from students, researchers, and industrial partners. Saturday's Emerging Technologies for the Swine Industry preconference seminar drew the most preregistered attendees. Sunday's Ahhchoo! Discussions about How to Succeed against the Flu seminar garnered the most attention from veterinarians, while the Swine Medicine for Students preconference seminar was well attended by veterinary students. Sunday afternoon, veterinary students highlighted their research and experience to a large crowd during the student seminar.

Dr Jack Shere, USDA-APHIS Associate Administrator in charge of emergency planning and response, held a special Wake up with USDA session early Monday morning to answer questions and hear concerns about emergency response. This new and late-breaking addition to the meeting was well-received; approximately 100 members attended asking questions related to indemnity and national stop movements, among others.

Dr Bret Marsh, Indiana State Veterinarian, opened the Monday general session with the Howard Dunne Memorial Lecture. During his presentation, titled Trust the people, he told attendees that government can work for the people. Describing foreign animal disease threats and the future of pork production in the United States, Dr Marsh emphasized that the US pork industry, with veterinary input, must determine its own fate.

Dr Bill Hollis, 2019 AASV Swine Practitioner of the Year, presented the Alex Hogg Memorial Lecture titled Choosing a pathway forward in practice. He described his vision on where the US pork industry may be going and how we might help along the way. He encouraged attendees to continue to build relationships with influential people and offered many suggestions on how to keep learning.

Dynamic speaker Dr Betsy Charles, from the Veterinary Leadership Institute, tied the Monday morning general session together with her presentation titled Reset to Positive. In her talk, she described life as the navigation of good and terrible. She encouraged all attendees to focus on increasing their optimism levels, embracing their social support networks, and strengthening one's ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat.

The Monday afternoon concurrent sessions encouraged veterinarians to consider disease control and elimination, biosecurity, and pharmaceutical issues. The Tuesday general session focused on two critical areas: swine welfare and foreign animal disease prevention.

In addition, 14 AASV committees met during the annual meeting to discuss important issues in swine health, public health, animal well-being, and membership. A new committee, established by the AASV Board of Directors at their October 2019 meeting, focused their discussions on identifying resources needed by early career swine veterinarians.

New to the meeting this year was an AASV Veterinarian Well-being Center. The center offered an American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Wheel of Well-Being, interactive displays, tips to support a culture of well-being, hand sanitizers donated by Apiam Solutions, Camfil, and Newport Laboratories, and other well-being resources.

A social media booth sponsored by Elanco Animal Health encouraged and provided tips for members to stay connected with AASV and other industry partners on social media. They displayed the live #AASV2020 conversation in real-time.

The AASV Awards Reception was held Monday night, followed by the AASV Foundation's annual fund-raising auction. Dr George Charbonneau, 2016 AASV president and 2020 AASV Awards Selection Committee chair, introduced the recipients of the Swine Practitioner of the Year Award (Dr Joel Nerem), the Howard Dunne Memorial Award (Dr Glen Almond), the Meritorious Service Award (Dr Lisa Tokach), the Young Swine Veterinarian of the Year Award (Dr James Wesley Lyons), and the Technical Services/Allied Industry Veterinarian of the Year Award (Dr Jerome Geiger). Read more about the awardees.

Thank you Sponsors!

Members of AASV attending the annual meeting make a substantial investment in the form of registration fees, travel, lodging, meals, and potential loss of income while away from work. However, the cost of attendance would be even greater--or the quality of the meeting experience reduced--if it were not for the financial support provided by corporate sponsors for refreshments, meals, social activities, and scholarships and travel stipends for veterinary students. The AASV extends its sincere appreciation for the sponsorship of meeting events by the following companies:
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc (AASV Luncheon)
  • Diamond V (Refreshment Break Co-sponsor)
  • DSM Nutritional Products (Exercise Class)
  • Elanco Animal Health (AASV Foundation Veterinary Student Scholarships, Social Media Center)
  • Hog Slat (Refreshment Break Co-sponsor)
  • Merck Animal Health (AASV Awards Reception, Student Swine Trivia Event, Student Reception, AASV Foundation Veterinary Student Scholarships) • Newport Laboratories (Veterinary Student Travel Stipends)
  • Quality Technology International (Refreshment Break Co-sponsor)
  • Stuart Products (Praise Breakfast)
  • United Animal Health (Veterinary Student Poster Awards)
  • Zoetis (Welcome Reception, AASV Student Seminar and Student Poster Session, AASV Foundation Veterinary Student Scholarship)

The AASV is also grateful to the companies and organizations that provided support through their participation in the 2020 Technical Tables exhibit. Thank you all!

Save the Date

The 2021 annual meeting will be held February 27-March 2 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California.

AASV staff contributed to or researched this story. For more information about the AASV, please visit http://www.aasv.org/.