Building a Biosecurity Blueprint: Advancing Science-Based Policies | Dr. Scott Dee

About the Guest

Scott Dee earned a DVM, MS, and PhD from the University of Minnesota, is board-certified in veterinary microbiology, past President of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, past Chair of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents and currently serves on the AVMA House of Delegates. After 12 years in swine practice and another 12 years in academia, Scott joined Pipestone Veterinary Services as Director of Applied Research, where he served as Director of Discovery and Innovation for Pipestone for 12.5 years.

Throughout his career, he has been awarded >12.5 M in research funding and published 187 peer reviewed papers, including the initial publications on the proof of concept of PEDV transmission in feed and the transboundary survival of ASFV in feed. He developed the initial knowledge and industry-wide protocols to understand and control Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) infection at the farm level. The comprehensive application of these protocols has reduced annual PRRS incidence below 10% across the 76 breeding herds in the Pipestone System, the 3rd largest pork production company in the US, over a 3-year period. This is the first report of long-term control of PRRSV in a large-scale commercial swine production system and is published in the Journal of the AVMA and Animals. He received the AASV Practitioner of the Year, the Howard Dunne Memorial, and Leman Science in Practice awards, a Warrior Chip from the FBI, and is a Master of the US Pork Industry.

He has guest-edited a Special Issue on Feed Risk in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases and is currently guest-editing another Special Issue on Biosecuring Animal Populations for the journal Animals. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service to the US Pork Industry Award from the National Pork Board and the Distinguished Service and Research award from the PRRS scientific community and recognized as the Distinguished Research Alumnus by the UMN College of Veterinary Medicine.

Scott is currently retired, and he and his wife Lisa live in Alexandria, MN. They have two children: Nicholas, a medical student at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Ellen, a CPA at Cargill, and Matilda, a 3-year-old Scottish Terrier.

What can you expect to learn from this episode of Popular Pig?

• How science-based biosecurity can help prevent the introduction of new disease strains across all animal species.
• The significance of the AVMA’s unanimous approval of a biosecurity resolution and its impact on veterinary medicine.
• The detailed process behind drafting and passing a policy within the AVMA and why it sets a precedent for future policies.
• Why biosecurity isn’t just about pigs—how lessons from the swine industry are now being applied to poultry, dairy cattle, and even human health.