Minnesota native Tim Loula, DVM, received the American Association of Swine Veterinarians’ (AASV) 2022 Howard Dunne Memorial Award on March 1 during the association’s 53rd Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. The award recognizes an AASV member who has made important contributions and provided outstanding service to the association and the swine industry.
“I feel incredibly honored to receive this award and to be in the company of such an impressive list of past recipients. I would like to thank my colleagues in the AASV, especially my partners at Swine Vet Center, for your friendship and for being an invaluable source of continual learning for me,” Loula said in an AASV release. “I thank all my clients for allowing me to learn at least as much from them as they did from me. And thank you to all my other friends in this industry who helped me in countless ways to do my job and have fun doing it. But above all, I’d like to thank my family - wife Ruth, my business and life partner for 44 years, our two children and their spouses and our six grandchildren. Their love and support have kept me grounded and have been essential to not only my career, but to every part of my life.”
For Loula, it’s always been about others first. His colleagues and mentees describe his greatest impact as what he has passed forward to others, especially through mentorship to young swine veterinarians and production staff, AASV said in a release. He is always willing to teach, share and support. He emphasizes the importance of building relationships and knowing all people and knows when to enlist the help of swine veterinarians to solve a problem. He often shares that his proudest moments are those when his students succeed.
Loula’s Path to Practice
Upon receiving his bachelor’s degree from Drake University, he went on to receive a bachelor’s degree and DVM from the University of Minnesota. He spent his first 12 years of his veterinary career in a mixed-animal practice with a focus on swine.
Loula became the cofounder and co-owner of the Swine Veterinary Center in St. Peter, Minn., in 1991, where he helped build the business into an exclusive swine veterinary practice with 15 veterinary consultants. Since then, Loula has devoted his life to the swine industry, leading efforts to improve production and herd health status while maintaining profitability for clients, AASV said in a release. He has consulted in 34 states and 30 foreign countries.
A Lifetime of Service
Not only does Loula exemplify the qualities of a Howard Dune Memorial Award recipient, but his lifetime of service has helped swine operations around the world improve health and production. He shares his knowledge with the industry through presentations at producer and veterinary meetings and published articles. He also provided outstanding service to the AASV as president (1993), district director (two terms), and as a member of multiple committees. He earned the AASV Swine Practitioner of the Year award in1990.
AASV is not the only organization to recognize his talents. He has received the Allen D. Leman Science in Practice award (2001), Master of the Pork Industry (2009) and Minnesota Pork Distinguished Service award (2021).
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