PIC has expanded its Health Assurance team with the addition of two new Health Assurance Veterinarians: Andrea Pitkin and Jess Waddell. 

They join a network of more than 40 internal and external veterinarians that support PIC’s North American customers. PIC’s Health Assurance team focuses on three major goals; the first being to maintain excellent health in PIC’s herds and minimize health impacts on rate of delivery of genetic improvement. The other goals are to protect the health of our customers’ herds and to partner with leading organizations to develop and validate solutions to improve swine health.

Pitkin and Waddell will be responsible for the implementation and communication of the PIC Health Assurance Program, which protects PIC supply chain and customers’ herds.

Pitkin is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she studied animal science. Concurrently, while attending the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, she received her Master of Science degree in Infectious Disease in 2009, with a focus on porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome biosecurity intervention strategies, followed by her DVM degree in 2011. Prior to PIC, Pitkin worked at Fairmont Veterinary Clinic in Minnesota.

Waddell is a graduate of Oklahoma State University, where he studied Animal Science. After receiving his Master of Science in Veterinary Preventive Medicine and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Iowa State University, he worked as a technical manager for swine with Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna, Austria. Most recently, he worked with The Maschhoffs LLC. as the associate director of health for the 40,000 sow farrow-to-finish system in Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa.

PIC’s Health Team follows a program, which combines science-based biosecurity with comprehensive surveillance and timely customer communication.