Dr. Miriam Martin is Director of Animal Health and Welfare from the North American Meat Institute.  We discuss how she grew up in Swine Production on a small Hog Farm in Missouri. We discuss her enhanced career path, and exciting things in store at her job at NAMI. We discuss her mentor Temple Grandin, and her time at Colorado and Kansas State University and learning about Swine behaviour and pain research. We discuss ASF preparedness, Safeguarding Animal Health and finally if we need to define a leadership strategy or outside box approach to move the Swine Industry forward.  

About Our Guest 

Dr. Miriam S. Martin grew up on a ranch in Meadville, Missouri. Miriam completed he undergraduate degree in animal science at the University of Missouri where she discovered her passion for animal welfare. She earned a Masters in livestock behavior and welfare in Temple Grandin’s group at Colorado State University before enrolling in a Doctoral program at Kansas State University in August 2018. Miriam is the first recipient of the FFAR Fellowship in the history of Kansas State University. Dr. Martin’s doctoral studies focused on investigating pain and analgesic strategies in food animals. These studies resulted in the publication of 8 first author papers and 5 co-author publications. Miriam served as the Midwest ASAS Graduate Director and the CVM GSA Vice President. She is also the recipient of a 2022 ASAS Midwest Young Scholars Award. Dr. Martin successfully defended her Ph.D. on October 2021 and she currently serves as the Director of Animal Health and Welfare for the North American Meat Institute.