As a veterinarian and microbiologist, Scott Dee '87 DVM, '85 MS, '96 PhD, has made a significant impact on the swine industry over the course of his career in industry, academia, and applied research.

Though recently retired, Dee hasn’t stopped contributing to swine medicine and the overall veterinary field. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) adopted a policy on biosecurity this year thanks to Dee, who now serves as one of Minnesota’s alternate delegates to the AVMA. 

This novel policy has significant potential to expand awareness of effective, evidence-based biosecurity protocols originally developed for the swine industry, and pave the way for their application in other species. It’s a timely move, given the threat posed by avian influenza and other emerging diseases. 

“To me, writing policy from science is a good way for the science to live on, as well as help transmit the message to the current and future generations,” Dee says. 

The policy has its roots in Dee’s lifelong work on infectious disease control and transmission, including two papers he published in 2024, which documented the ability of evidence-based biosecurity programs to control porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection across a large-scale pork production system for an extended period of time. 

Not wanting the papers to gather dust on the proverbial shelf, Dee was inspired to draft a resolution to bring to the AVMA House of Delegates with the hope that it could become policy. 

“If we can take this evidence-based approach and apply it across species, maybe we can do something bigger than just pigs and PRRS,” he says. 

He drafted the resolution and brought it to the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association leadership, where it was reviewed by the organization's board of directors and given official sponsorship before being sent to the AVMA. 

As the resolution wound its way through the AVMA’s process, Dee rounded up co-sponsors and endorsements, including from groups such as the American Association of Avian Pathologists and the Feline Veterinary Medical Association. The work paid off, with the resolution passing unanimously in January and becoming an official policy this past spring. 

So, how does the policy make an impact? First, the act of adopting this policy sends the message that AVMA members need to get up to speed on biosecurity and understand its importance. As mentioned in the policy, all veterinarians across all species should become familiar with the science of biosecurity, follow an evidence-based approach to practice it in the field, and strive to bring answers to existing questions. 

Second, in adopting the policy, the AVMA board committed to developing and maintaining an educational web-based platform for AVMA members to learn about biosecurity as it applies to all species and pathogens. Dee expects that it will contain a library of publications, contacts, and resources, as well as tools for veterinarians to collaborate and share information and cases.  

He believes that this initiative will be helpful in addressing other animal diseases, including avian influenza, and predicts that we will see similar patterns between the H5N1 and PRRS viruses, which are very similar in size and form.

Dee has been on the frontlines against PRRS since its emergence in 1987—the same year he graduated from veterinary school. The disease causes reproductive failure and deadly pneumonia in pigs and currently costs the industry more than $1 billion annually. 

“I got swept up in the emergence of PRRS,” Dee says. “My whole 37 years as a practitioner, a scientist, and research director, I’ve been battling this disease.”

In his latest chapter, his work with PRRS will reverberate beyond the swine industry. Under the guidance of the AVMA, the new biosecurity policy stemming from Dee’s research will result in the development of educational resources to benefit the veterinary profession, animals, and public health—making an impact on a large scale.

Jen Stromberg is the marketing and communications manager for the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). This story has been adapted from an original piece published in the May/June 2025 edition of the MVMA Messenger.