The future looks bright for the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) whose conference this year saw record attendance and is expected to keep on growing. As the event came to an end, Chuck Zimmerman had a few minutes with Past President Dr. Ron Broderson, DVM and current President Dr. George Charbonneau, DVM, who also served as the Program Chair for this year’s annual meeting.
Left to right: Dr. George Charbonneau is the new AASV President and the 1st from Canada. Next to him is Past President Dr. Ron Broderson, DVM.
During the interview, Chuck learned about 2015 successes and what’s next for AASV during 2016.
Ron is a swine practitioner from Nebraska who just handled the gavel over to George. “We’ve had a fun year. One of the key developments I’m excited about was featured in Paul Sunberg’s presentation of the Swine Health Information Center, which is an outcome of collaboration with the National Pork Board,” said Broderson. He noted the goal of the center is to get the American swine industry prepared for the next foreign animal event.
Charbonneau is a practitioner from Ontario, Canada who joked the gavel was still hot when Ron handed it over to him that morning. He said the focus from year-to-year has been around the same issues but moving the ball further down the field per se. “The focus for me, and part of our goals for this year and the theme of our conference, ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,’ is looking at all the colleagues in our industry to get a sense of how they can all become involved in the requirements for making the Swine Health Information Center work.”
While the leaders at the top are currently active in the initiative, Charbonneau stressed the “importance of all their members chipping in to carry the water and lighten the load, so to speak.”
You can learn more about the past and future of AASV in Chuck Zimmerman’s interview: Interview with AASV's Past & Future Presidents
BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album
