Dr. Egan Brockhoff is Canada’s food animal veterinarian of the year
By Jackie Clark
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Dr. Egan Brockhoff, the Canadian Pork Council’s (CPC) veterinary counselor, is the 2020 recipient of the Merck Veterinary Award. This award is presented to a Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) member who has made exceptional contributions to food animal medicine and health. The CVMA announced its prestigious annual awards in a statement on July 20.
“It’s pretty humbling when you realize your peers have come together and given you an award like that,” Brockhoff told Farms.com in an interview.
He has contributed in many facets of the swine health industry, including veterinary training in Asia, teaching swine medicine at the University of Calgary, and, of course, his work with the CPC since 2014.
He is proud of what swine veterinarians have accomplished in Canada.
“We’ve worked doubly hard to help control porcine epidemic diarrhea. We’ve worked extensively to help prevent African swine fever (ASF) from coming into Canada at all,” he said.
Perhaps the best part is “taking that wealth of knowledge from the research communities and the veterinary community, and just making it practical and applicable for farmers all across the country and for the industry,” he added. “I think that probably brings me as much happiness as anything – to be that spokesperson to connect the dots for people and build those bridges.”
Brockhoff holds leadership positions in several projects in Canadian swine health.
“I’ve got a couple really interesting and engaging projects right now,” he said. Those efforts include chairing the committee rewriting the national biosecurity standards for swine production, co-chairing the ASF compartmentalization project, and serving as project champion for the CVMA’s antimicrobial stewardship and benchmarking project.
“There seems to be so much good stuff happening right now. I’m really happy to be involved,” Brockhoff said.