AASV Foundation Announces Recipient of 2015 Hogg Scholarship

March 25, 2015 — 

Dr Chris Rademacher was named the 2015 recipient of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Foundation Hogg Scholarship. The scholarship was presented by Mary Lou Hogg during the association’s annual meeting in Orlando, FL.

Established in 2008, the scholarship is named for Dr. Alex Hogg who was a leader in swine medicine and pursued a master’s degree in veterinary pathology after 20 years in a mixed-animal practice. The scholarship is awarded annually to an AASV member who has been accepted into a qualified graduate program to further his or her education after years as a swine practitioner.

Dr Rademacher earned his DVM from the University of Minnesota in 1998. Following graduation, he joined New Fashion Pork as the staff veterinarian and service manager. He became the Director of Health Services and spent 10 years with the company before joining Murphy-Brown Western Operations as Director of Production Improvement. In December, 2014 he accepted the position of Swine Extension Veterinarian at Iowa State University. He recently enrolled in the Veterinary Preventive Medicine Masters program at ISU under Dr Jeff Zimmerman.

Dr Rademacher recently received a grant to study porcine epidemic diarrhea virus vaccination and immunity. The objective of the study is to evaluate the production benefit of vaccination in an endemically infected sow herd. In addition, the project will attempt to correlate PEDV immunity with production impacts including pre-wean mortality and weaning weight.

When asked about the significance of the scholarship, Dr Rademacher said, “It is indeed an honor and a humbling privilege to be awarded this scholarship that bears the name of one of the legends of swine production medicine. Alex is an inspiration to many of us who want to give back to an industry that has so richly blessed us and this award allows me to continue my lifelong learning as Alex so wonderfully modeled in his lifetime. I am so thankful to the Hogg family for sponsoring this award annually to swine veterinarians who want to continue their education.”