Top veterinarians were honored by the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) at its annual meeting on March 1-4 in San Francisco, Calif.
2025 Swine Practitioner of the Year
Bryan Myers, DVM, was named the 2025 Swine Practitioner of the Year. The award is given to the swine practitioner who has demonstrated an unusual degree of proficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of veterinary service to clients.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award from the AASV. I don’t know if I really belong in this category of true legends of swine veterinarians,” Myers said. “All I really wanted to do was ‘help farmers’. I am very grateful for the team at Pipestone Veterinary Services as well as very grateful for the trust that my clients have put in me.”
Myers earned his DVM from Iowa State University and completed the Executive Veterinary Program in Swine Medicine at the University of Illinois. He is a practicing veterinarian at Pipestone Veterinary Services where he provides health management and consultation for some of the largest swine producers and production systems in the country. AASV says he stands out for his strengths of practicality, communication, “work-horse” attitude, and above all else, relatability. Colleagues and clients praise his drive to share expertise with others.
While his dedication to animal agriculture is impressive, Myers said there is only one thing that matters to him more than veterinary medicine – his family, including Lisa, wife of 35 years, adult children Hannah and Benjamin, and grandchildren Quade and Kya.
2025 Young Swine Veterinarian of the Year
Brandi Burton, DVM, was named the Young Swine Veterinarian of the Year for demonstrating the ideals of exemplary service and proficiency early in her career. Originally from Mt. Prospect, Ill., she received a bachelor’s degree and DVM from the University of Illinois. After an introduction to animal agriculture in college, exposure to a small family farrow-to-finish farm, and participation in the Swine Veterinary Internship Program, her focus shifted from equine medicine to swine during veterinary school.
After graduation, Burton moved to Iowa to start her career with Suidae, where she splits her time between veterinary services and field research. In January, she began the role of president and managing partner of Suidae Health and Production.
“Words can hardly describe how honored I am to be the recipient of the Young Swine Vet of the Year Award,” Burton said in a release. “This is only possible because I have stood on the shoulders of giants, and I am forever grateful for those people and the opportunities that led me here.”
Burton has been a continuous member and leader of the AASV since joining as a student. She served as chair of the AASV Early Career Committee and was integral in developing new resources for early-career swine veterinarians, including the AASV Early-Career Swine Veterinarian Development Program in which she is a current participant. She has served the association as an annual meeting program planning committee member, speaker, and seminar chair. She currently sits on the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Clinical Practitioners Advisory Committee as AASV’s alternate representative. She received the Dr. Conrad and Judy Schmidt Family Student Debt Relief Endowment Scholarship in 2021, the Boehringer Ingelheim Award for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease in 2020, and she completed the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association Power of Ten Leadership program in 2021.
2025 Technical Services/Allied Industry Veterinarian of the Year
Amanda Sponheim, DVM, received the Technical Services/Allied Industry Veterinarian of the Year Award for her unusual degree of proficiency and effectiveness in delivery of veterinary service to her companies and clients, as well as given tirelessly in service to the AASV and the swine industry.
“I am truly humbled and honored to receive this award that is reflective of the people who have invested in me throughout my career. I am grateful for the opportunity to support the collaborative, progressive, science-driven veterinarians and pork producers we work with,” she said.
Sponheim received her bachelor’s degree and DVM from the University of Illinois. She completed the Executive Veterinary Program at the University of Illinois in 2016. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Minnesota under faculty advisor Maria Pieters. As a senior key account veterinarian in the swine division at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health (BIAH) USA Inc., Sponheim provides technical support to strategic U.S. swine accounts, oversees field trials, investigates disease outbreaks, presents technical information to veterinary audiences, and manages veterinary student interns. A servant leader and tremendous resource for students, she has mentored more than 20 veterinary students during swine internships.
She has been an AASV member since joining as a veterinary student. She has served on the AASV Student Recruitment Committee and as the committee’s National Pork Industry Foundation’s internship chair. She has also assisted the organization as a member of the Hogg Scholarship Committee, after receiving the scholarship in 2018.
Your Next Read: Eliminating Mycoplasma Hyopneumoniae is Good for Sows, Too
