SHIC Board of Directors News

Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Board Member Dr. Brett Kaysen of Colorado resigned his position as the representative from National Pork Board last month due to a career change. Gene Noem of Iowa will now fill the National Pork Board representative role on the SHIC Board of Directors.

“SHIC is filling an information gap for the livestock industry, in particular the swine industry,” Noem remarked. “You don’t have to look very far back in history to realize unknown and foreign animal disease can really impact us in a way we really haven’t imagined. Unless we’re prepared, there’s potential to suffer a disastrous consequence.”

Noem, whose entire professional career has been spent in the pork industry, recognizes the value and contribution of SHIC to the entire industry. He has seen the benefit of international collaborations and the industry’s ability to recognize and respond to disease.

“That is what SHIC is doing – creating international collaborations. These will help us understand better how those threats and diseases can move. Does it come here through feed, animals, or other vectors like people or equipment? Once it is here, what do we do, how do we react, how do we diagnose? SHIC creates infrastructure to quickly respond because we have studied it,” he stated.

Noem has served on the National Pork Board for two years and served on many committees at both the national and state level. He has been a member of the Iowa Pork Producers Association Board for five years as well. Noem worked for PIC and Smithfield for 20 years before going to work for Reicks View Farms. He is also a contract grower, raising pigs on his own hog farms in Iowa.

Funded by America’s pork producers to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd, the Swine Health Information Center focuses its efforts on prevention, preparedness, and response. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research for the benefit of swine health. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit https://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Paul Sundberg at [email protected].