Egan Brockhoff, DVM, president and managing partner of Prairie Swine Health Services in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada will receive the 2021 Allen D. Leman Science in Practice Award in September. He joins a growing and illustrious list of veterinarians who have received the award, which is presented at the annual Allen D. Leman Swine Conference in St. Paul, Minn.
In Dr. Brockoff’s opinion, evidence-based medicine is a “must” for pork production. “Your prior experience and gut instincts are great starting points,” Brockhoff explains, “but we need to test them.” He also advocates for an inclusive, team-based approach to applying science. “We need to include producers in our questions, and work with universities to assure that our study design and methods will produce usable findings.” Dr. Brockhoff says the most important thing is to keep projects simple—don’t expect to answer all of your questions in one study.
When he’s been able to hire or mentor new practitioners, Dr. Brockhoff has helped them complete a science project within their first 90 days. “It might be a health-oriented trial or something related to behavior or labor utilization. The point is to learn the value of continual testing and refinement early in your career.”
“For more than 20 years this award has honored veterinarians like Egan who are accomplished leaders of our swine industry,” says Montse Torremorell, DVM, PhD, and professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the University of Minnesota. “We are excited to recognize him and to have the support of Zoetis in supporting this award.”
“Dr. Brockhoff is an outstanding ambassador for integrating science into the practice of veterinary medicine,” says Lucina Galina, DVM, PhD and director of pork technical services at Zoetis. “We salute his long record of innovation and tireless pursuit of solutions that improve swine health.” Zoetis is sponsoring the reception at this year’s Leman Swine Conference in St. Paul, where Brockhoff will be honored. Zoetis is the world’s leading animal health company, providing an innovative portfolio and pipeline of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and technologies for the care of livestock and companion animals.
“Include producers in [your] questions, and work with universities to assure that [your] study design and methods will produce usable findings.”
Dr. Egan Brockhoff
Brockhoff completed his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2006 at the University of Saskatchewan, Western College of Veterinary Medicine. He began providing swine consulting services in Southeast Asia in 2010 focusing on veterinary training, disease management and control as well as enhancing biosecurity capacity. Since 2008 Egan has taught Swine Medicine at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He has served in numerous professional and industry leadership roles including as president of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association. His passion for agriculture and supporting farmers and agribusiness brought him to the Canadian Pork Council in 2014 where he continues to serve as the organization’s veterinary counselor. In 2020 he was the recipient of the CVMA’s Merck Veterinary Award for Food Animal Veterinarian of the Year. Dr. Brockhoff will receive his award September 20 at the annual Leman Swine Conference in St. Paul. The conference is the industry’s premier health and production management conference and will be held as a hybrid event in 2021—offering both in-person and virtual registrations. Details can be found at lemanconference.umn.edu.