The Swine Health Information Center will celebrate its 10th anniversary in July 2025. Launched in 2015 with Pork Checkoff funding, SHIC’s mission is to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd. This is accomplished by minimizing the impact of emerging disease threats through preparedness, coordinated communications, global disease monitoring, analysis of swine health data, and targeted research investments.
Research serves as a cornerstone of SHIC’s effort to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd. “SHIC received the greatest number of research proposals and awarded the highest dollar amount for research projects in a single year in 2024,” said SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder. “Matching funds and external grants have enabled SHIC to leverage Pork Checkoff investment and at the same time, expand both research breadth as well as funding capacity to increase return on investment.”
SHIC has made it a priority to broaden the reach of its requests for proposals, encouraging participation from a growing number of organizations across diverse regions within and outside of the US. Broadening the reach of RFP awareness will expand the network of scientists conducting critical swine health research, increase competitiveness of funding awards, and advance innovation for pork producers in the protection of herd health.
Between 2023-2025, SHIC has awarded research funds to 49 principal investigators at 15 universities, seven private companies, and one government entity to do relevant swine-health related research. These 23 organizations represent different perspectives, diverse expertise, and are located across three countries – the US, Canada, and Australia. The US-based projects come from organizations in 15 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.
“No single researcher, institution, company, or even country has all the answers,” said SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton. “By intentionally expanding SHIC’s reach, we can take advantage of great talent not only in the US but in other countries to perform key research needed to benefit US pork producers. For example, utilizing the expertise of researchers in Australia for Japanese encephalitis virus, where it is an ongoing concern, helps address US producers’ concerns and provide practical information on disease presentation and risks for this emerging threat.”
SHIC’s H5N1 Risk to Swine Research Program RFP, funded in collaboration with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and the Pork Checkoff which closed in December 2024, brought in 51 proposals, the highest number received for a single RFP at the time. The subsequent RFP, SHIC 2025 Plan of Work Research Program, closed in April 2025 and broke the new record with 57 proposals. Engaging researchers and organizations focused on the swine industry as well as allied industries will result in high quality data to help fulfill SHIC’s mission and serve pork producers well.
The Swine Health Information Center, launched in 2015 with Pork Checkoff funding, protects and enhances the health of the US swine herd by minimizing the impact of emerging disease threats through preparedness, coordinated communications, global disease monitoring, analysis of swine health data, and targeted research investments. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit http://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Megan Niederwerder at [email protected] or Dr. Lisa Becton at [email protected].
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