#52 - The US Swine Health Improvement Program: protecting the pork industry

The US Swine Health Improvement Program (US SHIP) is a collaborative effort among the industry, animal health state officials, and federal authorities with the goal of establishing traceability, biosecurity, and surveillance standards for the pork industry. The aim is to create a certification program that meets or exceeds these standards and can be recognized by US states and trading partners (the US SHIP is modeled after the National Poultry Improvement Plan, NPIP, which has been successful in achieving the same goals in the poultry industry). In this episode, Dr. Tyler Holck discusses his experience working on the program as well as highlights its importance for mitigating the risks of disease introduction and providing evidence of freedom of disease to support animal health, commerce, and trade.

Meet the guest:

Dr. Tyler Holck

Experience

○ Current: Collaborator in the development and implementation of the US Swine Health Improvement Plan (US SHIP)

○ Past: Director of swine technical services at Boehringer Ingelheim US – leading technical service team, health management center, and BI swine academy

Background

○ M.B.A. (Iowa State University)

○ M.Sc. (Iowa State University)

○ D.V.M. (Iowa State University)

○ B.Sc., Animal Science (South Dakota State University)

Hobbies: golfing and gardening

Favorite book, movie or TV series: John Grisham novels

Favorite quote: "Less is more!" – unknown author

A tip for success: Problems are solved by simplicity