Sask Pork recognizes local swine researcher with Award of Distinction
By Lynn Redl-Huntington
Sask Pork honoured local swine researcher Dr. Dan Columbus with a Saskatchewan Pork Industry Award of Distinction in the area of Excellence in Production Research this week at the 44th annual Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium.
Columbus is a Research Scientist in Nutrition at Prairie Swine Centre and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan. He joined Prairie Swine Centre in 2015 and his academic contributions have helped obtain more than $5 million in research funding as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in less than five years.
“It’s really nice to have your efforts recognized when you’ve been working to advance and provide improvements for the pork industry,” said Columbus. “The pork industry as a whole tends to be very innovative but we don’t always talk about it very much outside our own professional circles. It’s wonderful that people are recognizing and valuing the impact of these efforts by both myself and our research group.”
“Sask Pork is pleased to recognize Dan Columbus for the significant impact he is making in Saskatchewan’s pork industry,” said Mark Ferguson, General Manager, Sask Pork. “He has helped grow research excellence in Saskatchewan, which is key to making continual improvements in pig nutrition and health as well as provide more wide-reaching impacts for human health.”
Dr. Murray Pettitt, CEO of Prairie Swine Centre nominated Columbus. “Dan has quickly established himself as an excellent researcher and has made numerous contributions to academia, the training of the next generation of swine professionals and to the Saskatchewan swine industry,” said Pettitt.
“In 2015 when we interviewed Dan he was at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas,” said Lee Whittington, retired CEO at Prairie Swine Centre. “We knew that he represented the next generation in research scientists. He had a one-health mindset, linking human and animal growth, nutrition and health. We also knew two important attributes to success that he already possessed, he was not afraid to get his hands dirty and he was not afraid of hard work.”
Some of Columbus’s prolific work has focused on the impact of amino acids in disease-challenged pigs, neonatal under-nutrition and its effect on pig development and cardiovascular function, long-term effects of mycotoxin intake, as well defining protein quality. Columbus was also awarded the Canadian Society of Animal Science Young Scientist Award in 2019.
The Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium was held virtually from November 16-17 and attendees joined the conference from 12 countries, six Canadian provinces, and eight U.S. states.