The CSHB was formed to assist in the management of the health of the Canadian swine herd.

As part of that mandate the organization is funding the placement of eight young scientists in three-year positions at six Canadian veterinary colleges and those researchers will be on hand for the third Canadian Swine Health Forum on 3 and 4 November in Niagara Falls.

CSHB exective director, Bob Harding, says that because most of the researchers working in the area of swine health have retired and have not been replaced, research capacity in that area is limited.

Bob Harding – Canadian Swine Health Board

The response of the Canadian Swine Health Board was to establish a programme for postdoctoral fellowships for those folks or for grad students to work in emerging pig disease areas.

So there are eight of those young scientists now across the country, working on very specific projects related to emerging pig diseases.

What we are very excited about is that in conjunction with our Canadian Swine Health Forum this group is coming together nationally, so all of the researchers and their supervisors are coming together for a science meeting to share what they're working on with each other.

We see that as a very important key part of this with collaboration across the country so that we all learn from each other and move our Canadian industry even further down the road.

Young scientists have been placed in positions at the Universities of Alberta, Guelph, Montreal, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island and the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon.