SMEC focused on lifelong education, swine researchSMEC focused on lifelong education, swine research

Projects include antimicrobial resistance gene detection in water line biofilms, sow survivability improvements.

July 2, 2024

4 Min Read

By Justin Brown, Iowa State University

The Swine Medicine Education Center at Iowa State University was formed in 2010 with the mission to demonstrate the best practices for clinical swine medicine to veterinary students, veterinarians and industry stakeholders. These individuals could then apply the skills and techniques to improve swine health, ensure pork safety and maintain sustainability within their herds or for their clients. Since SMEC’s beginnings over 13 years ago, we have provided education and resources to veterinary students, veterinarians, and industry stakeholders in 97 countries.

The SMEC team is comprised of 11 individuals and housed in the department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University.

  • Locke Karriker, director and Morrill Professor

  • Kristin Skoland, research administrator III

  • Justin Brown, assistant professor

  • Becca Walthart, program specialist I

  • Jessica Bonnema, special projects manager

  • Gabi Doughan, postdoctoral research associate

  • Michele Moncrief, postdoctoral research associate

  • Elise Snezek, postdoctoral research associate

  • Josh Ellingson, instructor, AMVC Management Services

  • Paul Thomas, instructor, AMVC Management Services

  • Katie Beckman, instructor, AMVC Management Services

Through collaboration with AMVC Management Services, led by Ellingson, Thomas and Beckman, SMEC provides first-class, hands-on experiences for students to be immersed in swine production and medicine. In 2023, SMEC collaborated with over 65 entities including production companies, independent producers, pharmaceutical companies, swine focused veterinary practices, and mixed animal veterinary practices to provide our students a diversity of experiences related to swine medicine.

The center’s focus can be summarized into two major areas referred to as our Lifelong Education and Resource Network and the Swine Medicine Applied Research Team. SMEC LEARN is dedicated to our education resources including didactic and on-farm instruction in the undergraduate, graduate, professional and extension curriculums at ISU. We offer four, two-week long, clinical rotations for clinical veterinary students focused on various topics of swine medicine:

  • VDPAM/SMEC 7480: Swine Medicine

  • VDPAM/SMEC 7478A: Swine Production Management and Consultation

  • VDPAM/SMEC 7478B: Drug, Vaccination and Treatment Management for Swine

  • VDPAM/SMEC 7478C: Swine Emerging Diseases and Emergency Response Management

These rotations are available for students from all veterinary colleges as well as veterinarians. In addition to the clinical rotations, we also provide instruction over swine topics at other universities with recorded lectures and live, synchronous instruction from SMEC staff. Through this resource, students at other colleges of veterinary medicine are exposed to swine medicine and production topics that they may not otherwise have access to in their home institutions’ curriculum.

We also offer a daily multiple-choice question via email. You can register for these questions to be sent directly to your inbox where you will receive a multiple-choice question relating to swine. Topics cover all aspects of swine from production and husbandry to medicine and pharmaceuticals. When you answer the question, you will receive immediate feedback with the correct answer option and an explanation, and don’t worry we can’t keep track of correct and incorrect responses.

Additionally, SMEC+ (SMEC plus) is our digital repository of over 130 videos and resources demonstrating clinical skills and clinical investigations. The center also produces a monthly podcast “Talkin’ About Pigs” that is focused on producer questions and getting information to the slat level. The podcast is available on all major streaming platforms.

In addition to the vast amount of information and resources the center can provide, SMEC offers graduate student positions and post-DVM training as a postdoctoral research associate positions. In these positions, students conduct applied research to pursue a masters and/or a PhD, further their clinical knowledge through clinical cases and advanced practice, and participate in clinical teaching to make triple threat graduates.

SMEC is also focused on swine research through our SMEC SMART program. We collaborate across the industry and with a variety of entities to execute swine focused research projects through a fee-for-service, ala-carte model focused on live swine work. Through SMART, SMEC produced 58 items of scholarship in 2023. Some examples of projects that SMEC has been an integral part of include development of the Certified Swine Sample Collector program, investigating the use of telehealth for swine medicine, detection of antimicrobial resistance genes in swine barn water line biofilms, and improvements of sow survivability. In total, SMART has collaborated on over 50 projects in the past five years.

For more information about SMEC and our offerings, visit our website, follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@isu_smec), or send us a message at [email protected]. We’re here to help you with your swine education and research needs!

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