Update, April 2022 - No. 1, by Royal GD

AHEAD IN ANIMAL HEALTH

update April 2022 - No. 1

UDDER HEALTH Collaboration with IVC Evidensia and Zoetis: tools, knowledge and partnerships

INTERVIEW ELANCO “Being aware of context is the key”

DISTRIBUTOR INDONESIA “It’s all about connecting”

AHEAD IN ANIMAL HEALTH

Proficiency testing schemes in 2022 Why participate?

Cat. no.

Closing date for registration

Proficiency testing scheme

There are many good reasons to participate in proficiency testing schemes:

Round 5

1.

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification cattle

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains cattle

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification poultry

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains poultry

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification companion animals

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains companion animals

2.

3.

4.

5.

Evaluating the performance of the laboratory Maintaining/achieving accreditation to ISO 17025 Providing additional confidence Identifying interlaboratory differences Identifying problems

April 29

Shipment of the samples

Submission for test results

Final report and certificate

Week 20

June 24

Week 33

Round 6 VLDIA255

PTS aMPV antibody detection (TRT)

VLDIA277

PTS ARV antibody detection (REO)

VLDIA292

PTS ILT antibody detection

VLDIA329

PTS CAV antibody detection

VLDIA333

PTS IBR antibody detection (serum)

VLDIA334

PTS IBR antibody detection (milk)

VLDIA335

PTS IBR antibody detection (milk and serum)

VLDIA344

PTS PCV2 antibody detection

August 19

Week 36

October 21

Week 50

NEW

Round 7 VLDIA232

PTS AI antibody detection

VLDIA327

PTS AI virus detection

VLDIA233

PTS Salmonella poultry antibody detection

VLDIA171

PTS Salmonella porcine antibody detection

VLDIA295

PTS SIV antibody detection

September 9

Week 39

November

Week 3

18

2023

November

Week 3

25

2023

Round 8

View the entire schedule: www.gdanimalhealth.com/pts/timeschedule

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification cattle

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains cattle

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification swine

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains swine

September 30

Week 42

foreword

TIME FLIES Time flies when you’re having fun. It’s been a year since I wrote my first preface for the GD Update, but it feels like a lot less.

Despite lockdowns and travel restrictions I’ve met a lot of new colleagues, partners and clients, learned many interesting new things about animal health and worked on a plan to bring our CRO activities to a higher level and enable more growth.

This GD Update is another demonstration of the wealth of activities Royal GD is employing. As the cover of this edition indicates, we share with you some interesting insights into a project we ran in collaboration with IVC Evidensia and Zoetis on udder health. Closely related to that is our interview with Rinse Boersma, Global Marketing Director at Elanco. In this interview

Rinse reflects among others on the successful collaboration between Royal GD and Elanco on the implementation of a dairy antibiogram in New Zealand.

Also in this issue, you can read about how we expand our international network as we introduce our Indonesian distributor PT. Elo Karsa Utama to you. And finally, as travel restrictions have eased, we are happy to share with you the meetings we will be attending this spring and an upcoming new GD academy training on food safety, which you can follow either online or live in Deventer.

We very much look forward to meeting you again!

Berend Oosterhuis, Director of Contract Research & Consulting

content 04 Disease control programmes

CONTACT INFORMATION ROYAL GD If you want to know more about what GD can do for you, please contact one of our staff members, responsible for international sales:

Klaas van Aken

Berend Oosterhuis

Head Business Development k.v.aken@gdanimalhealth. com

Director of Contract Research & Consulting

Eveline Peereboom

Fanny Nieuwenhuis Business Manager f.nieuwenhuis@ gdanimalhealth.com

Jarno Smit

Anita Morelisse

Area manager GD Academy j.smit@gdanimalhealth.com

Coordinator GD Academy a.morelisse@ gdanimalhealth.com

Annemiek Kolkman

Mattheus Hekman

Area manager a.kolkman@ gdanimalhealth.com

Area manager m.hekman@ gdanimalhealth.com

Frank Huis in ‘t Veld

Monique Kleinlugtenbeld Sales support support@gdanimalhealth. com

Ellen Koetsier Sales support support@gdanimalhealth. com

Teaming up with PT. Elo Karsa Utama

b.oosterhuis@gddiergezondheid.nl

Business manager e.peereboom@ gdanimalhealth.com

Sales support support@gdanimalhealth. com

05 Introducing our new distributor:

05

06 Collaboration Royal GD, IVC Evidensia

and Zoetis: getting more out of udder health

08 Interview Elanco: “The context is key” 10 News and communications 08 12 GD specialist: Lucía Dieste Pérez

Phone In the Netherlands 088-2025500, abroad +31 (0)88-2025575 E-mail info@gdanimalhealth.com Website www.gdanimalhealth.com Mail address GD P.O. Box 9, 7400 AA Deventer, the Netherlands Editor Update Anne Taverne Delivery address for samples and post mortem material Royal GD, Attn. CMD, Rigastraat 25, 7418 EW Deventer, the Netherlands

10

Update, April 2022 - 3

animal health

Disease control programmes We have been active in monitoring and controlling specific diseases for over a century. During the past hundred years, many control programmes have been developed and have generated a proven track record of success. GD has selected a number of these programmes in order to develop them outside the Netherlands as well.

Many farms participate in these programmes and pay a voluntary fee for the diagnostic services and tailor-made advice for their specific herd. This helps them to control, reduce and in some cases even eradicate and receive accreditation for specific diseases. Poultry and swine integrations, dairy cooperations, but also individual larger farms are invited to join any of the programmes we offer. Before onboarding, the exact rollout of the programmes needs to be tailored to the specific requirements and demands. In other words, we discuss where to send the samples (Royal GD in Deventer or a local laboratory) and what works best for your specific situation.

The programmes we offer We offer programmes for cattle, swine, poultry and small ruminants:

Cattle • Bulk tank milk mastitis • Bovine Viral Diarrhoea • Paratuberculosis • Bulk tank milk minerals, claw health, parasites Small ruminants • Maedi Visna/Caprine arthritis encephalitis • Caseous lymphadenitis • Bulk tank milk Coxiella burnetii

Swine • PRRS • Aujeszky’s disease • Piglet OK Poultry • Antibiotic reduction • Mortality reduction • Mycoplasma gallisepticum • Mycoplasma synoviae • Salmonella

In order to explain the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ to your customers, we have developed concise and powerful flyers that can be used to briefly discuss the possible reasons to participate. They show what can be expected from the participants and how participants will be advised in the programmes. These flyers can be used as a leave-behind piece after discussing such programmes with any of your customers.

Interested? Feel free to contact us Are you interested in participating in one or more of these programmes or would you like to discuss this with a potentially interested company? Do not hesitate to contact us for more detailed explanations, how to develop a tailor-made programme for an integration and the possibilities for collaboration and quotations.

MORE INFORMATION WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/PROGRAMMES

4 - Update, April 2022

distributor

TEAMING UP

“It really helps to do it together” Together we are stronger. And that’s why we reach out to others for their knowledge and to share ours. Royal GD is establishing an international distribution network. In this edition we would like to introduce a new member of our network: PT. Elo Karsa Utama from Indonesia. We would like to tell you more about this collaboration.

Established in 1981, PT. Elo Karsa Utama is one of the leading distributors of life science, biotechnology, microbiology and medical products in Indonesia. With their head office in Jakarta and representative offices in Surabaya, Bandung, Bogor and Yogyakarta, they have to catered clients from various industries in all major areas of the country. Growth is important and that’s why they continue to strive to open more offices in other parts of Indonesia.

Within the four business units (Life Science, Industry, Medical and Animal Health) of PT. Elo Karsa, the collaboration with GD focuses on the Animal Health division. As area manager Business Development, Annemiek Kolkman (GD,) saw that the products & services of GD would complement the portfolio of PT. Elo Karsa Utama very well.

Complete solution and knowledge And that was indeed the case. “Our goals are aimed to help prevent livestock disease, improve growth rates and optimise overall reproductive efficiency. Together with GD we can offer and promote the products to our clients with a complete solution”, says Nicodemus Hapsianto, Marketing Director of PT. Elo Karsa.

“Next to providing a test kit, we can now explain how to do the test and why it’s important. GD brings that knowledge.

Furthermore, we offer proficiency testing to measure laboratory testing performance. These are things we weren’t able to do before.”

Nicodemus continues. “GD is not only here to sell the antibody or antigen, but they also facilitate training and consultancy. It’s important to create a close relationship with the customers.

Through their local language and knowledge of the culture, a distributor can easily make connections.” Annemiek Kolkman agrees. “Having someone close to the local market helps. Not

Nicodemus Hapsianto (on the left side) and his team

only to help make contact, but also to create opportunities and attend to customers faster and more efficiently.”

Making connections Together they have set up the webinar ‘PTS: A Quality Control to Ensure Reliable Results to Your Customers’ for the clients and prospects. “It helps to really do it together”, says Nicodemus.

“In the future we, as distributor, will focus on promoting and educating existing customers during visits, but in addition to the past webinar, we will also set up other webinars and demos for potential customers. This way we hope to connect GD to the market. And that is what it’s all about: connecting.”

INTERESTED OR WANT TO KNOW MORE? WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/DISTRIBUTORS

Update, April 2022 - 5

Tools, knowledge and partnerships: get more out of udder health It’s a good idea that we all work on reducing the bulk milk cell count, because attention to udder health always pays off. For this reason, Royal GD, IVC Evidensia and Zoetis have been working together recently on a training programme for veterinarians. Using a structured approach, we got to work on diagnosing mastitis, and the results were positive.

As every vet knows, the importance of udder health is beyond dispute. However, what do you do if the bulk milk cell count increases, either temporarily or structurally? IVC Evidensia, a group of veterinary practices and Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company, joined forces with Royal GD, and set up a training programme with the specific aim of answering this question.

Unique strengths The three partners were able to deploy their unique strengths to achieve a common goal; improve udder health. Zoetis relied on its various tools for treatment and advising veterinary practices, IVC Evidensia used its knowledge and experience from veterinary practices and livestock farmers, while GD exploited its knowledge and applied diagnostics, scientific expertise and research into udder health.

During the training programme, vets were given specific practical tools to help them get to work on udder health. This wasn’t because the vets were lacking in knowledge, it was simply to make sure they could use their knowledge as effectively as possible, according to Otlis Sampimon, udder health specialist at Zoetis. “Basically a knowledge upgrade, putting them in an even better position to help farmers lower their bulk milk cell counts.”

6 - Update, April 2022

The path to reducing the bulk milk cell count Ten vets from ten different IVC Evidensia practices attended five sessions. During these sessions, they discussed their own findings under the supervision of expert coaches. The goal? To help all 45 participating dairy farmers with a bulk milk cell count above 200,000 cells/ml get this number below 200,000 cells/ml during a 12-month programme.

Yoni Pasman, freelance editor

All the livestock farmers subscribed to the Mastitis Tankmelk milk initiative, which uses bulk milk samples for mastitis diagnostics. That was also an appropriate starting point, says vet Christian Scherpenzeel of GD, who helped coach the vets during the programme. “We used diagnostics in our approach, instead of the more indirect path of bulk milk cell count data. That means we first used Mastitis Tankmelk at herd level to identify the dominant individual and combined mastitis agents on the farm, then refined the findings at an individual level through bacteriological testing. The participants were able to use this information to determine a plan of action with great precision.”

One germ Each vet selected one specific mastitis agent on which they focused in their action plan. If the germ was found in the bulk milk, they elaborated specific, practical changes that the livestock farmer could implement. They presented their findings to each other during the meetings. It was a pleasant way of working, says Jaap Mulder, Clinical Director at IVC Evidensia. “It wasn’t a standard training course where you mainly get information. Vets were given a structure, and shared lots of experiences with each other.”

Indicator By using diagnostics as the approach and determining an action plan for each germ, the vets knew exactly what they had to do.

Sampimon: “Bulk milk is a good indicator of what’s happening across a farm. You can then refine this with individual bacteriological testing.”

interview

This allows vets to work very specifically. Scherpenzeel: “You learn to see the germs in the context of the farm as a whole.

The vets identify the risk factors, and take the time needed to draw up a plan. After all, the bulk milk cell count can’t be reduced by changing just one aspect; it requires a structured, targeted approach.”

Win-win The aim was to get the bulk milk cell count at each livestock farm below 200,000 cells/ml. Were they successful? Absolutely, says Sampimon. Ultimately, udder health improved on each and every one of the dairy farms, so a real win-win situation, according to Scherpenzeel. “If a livestock farmer sees that the approach works, they will value the vet’s advice even more.”

Exchange of ideas The end of the course doesn’t necessary signal the end of further exchanges of ideas. Mulder advises vets to get in touch with each other regularly. “Use the power of a network. You can simply call people, call experts. You have a common interest.”

The vets have gained more confidence, and tools for tackling more complex udder health issues, even if a farm is doing well.

Mulder says he frequently heard people say: “I’ve got more options for applying farm supervision when it comes to udder health. It’s generally more difficult to get the farmer’s attention for a chat when things are going well, but this has made it easier.”

MORE INFORMATION WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/PROGRAMMES

Update, April 2022 - 7

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

“It’s a way of crea Whether you’re a multinational or a small local farm, partnerships are always important. Small-scale dairy farmers in Cambodia and those working on major integration projects all know that farming is heavy going without the right network. GD is also in favour of looking at the possibilities together with partners. One of these partners is Elanco.

Rinse Boersma discusses the partnership. “Joining forces takes you further.”

Partnerships don’t arise by themselves, of course. For Rinse Boersma, Global Marketing Director at Elanco, GD was an old friend, so he knew exactly who to approach when Elanco was working on a new innovation strategy in Germany. “As a Dutchman in the veterinary field, you cannot ignore the knowl-

“As a Dutchman in the veterinary field, you cannot ignore the knowledge and expertise of GD” edge and expertise of GD. Ynte Schukken (CEO at Royal GD, ed.) helped us to design and implement a new innovation model.

One of the things this model revealed was that we needed to forge partnerships, and had to search more widely than we had done before. Since that time, we’ve worked together with GD on various projects, from innovative model studies to field trials.”

Conducting useful scientific research with animals, whether it concerns a model study or field trial, requires extensive knowledge and experience. It involves more than knowledge about a disease. A successful experimental design requires in-depth knowledge about both the target animals and the conditions in which animals are raised in practice. “GD has such expertise in-house, so it’s a valued partner in this field. Our partnership

8 - Update, April 2022

Rinse Boersma, Global Marketing Director at Elanco

involves more than the process of innovation, it also looks at projects already on the market,” says Rinse.

Fruitful partnership GD offers Elanco additional knowledge and expertise, while Elanco offers GD a useful network and the ability to reach the world’s animals. “This all comes together nicely in the training sessions we purchase from GD,” says Rinse. “We bring col-

interview

ting connections” leagues from all over the world along to the excellent training sessions prepared for us in Deventer (or locally). It works really well, and results in some interesting insights.” Sometimes the training sessions can be both interesting and highly fruitful.

“We were taken into the lab during the Advanced Dairy Health course in 2016, where a colleague from New Zealand saw the bulk milk antibiogram. It caught his interest as it was something new to him, and he immediately saw opportunities for it in New Zealand.”

And that’s exactly what happened. That single training session was the catalyst for a new partnership based on the antibiogram. GD visited New Zealand, where the dairy antibiogram was presented to vets. It was so well received, that a large percentage of vets in the country are now using the antibiogram to help their dairy farmers. “I think this is a great example of how you can help each other,” Rinse continues. “We’ve got lots of customers in New Zealand, but we don’t have all the technologies in-house, so a partner is vital. Quality and scientific integrity are central to us, and these characteristics we can find at GD. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Connections and getting to know the context It’s a way of creating connections, something Rinse considers very important. “New Zealand is a completely different world from a veterinary point of view, with a very different context.

Our goal is to connect people. If our colleague from the country hadn’t been at the session in Deventer, the dairy antibiogram would likely still have been unknown there.” The training sessions really stimulate these connections. “It’s a way of bringing people together, getting to know the context in which others operate, and sharing relevant knowledge.”

About Elanco Elanco is a global leader in animal health dedicated to innovating and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets.

Being aware of the context in other countries is second nature at Elanco, as the company has been working as a global partner for years. “We work with the market, and closely monitor what’s going on locally. The animal welfare laws and housing practices for animals vary greatly from one country to another. We understand different requirements in each country, as long as they

“We closely monitor what’s going on locally” are in line with our animal welfare standards and values.” It’s therefore good that partners are aware that Elanco looks at things from a global perspective. “Across the world, dairy farmers only keep three cows on average. In Southeast Asia, many millions of farmers only keep a couple of cows yet manage to earn a good living with them. It’s a world away from the large farms in the US, which are sometimes owned by investors.”

This variation across markets is a challenge, because there’s a massive difference between farms with 3 cows, 30 cows or 100 cows. “Vets often administer treatments themselves at small farms, but this tends to be done by farmers at farms with 100 cows. Veterinary care at farms with more than 1,000 cows is handled differently again. These farms employ specialist staff, and the epidemiology in large herd changes. We have to be aware of these differences, because a farmer with 30 cows does a different job and has different needs to someone with 5,000 cows.” To work in such a range of contexts, Elanco needs various partners with the flexibility to adapt.

Accompany changes “Animals and their health are very important, so I hope that together with GD we can have a positive impact on animal health, help the sector, and grow together in harmony with this changing context,” concludes Rinse. “Society and people are changing, and it’s important to keep up with this continuous change, together with partners such as GD.”

Update, April 2022 - 9

Customized training: Exporting healthy animals and safe food to the European Union Good health is in the interest of animals and contributes to sustainable farming.

This meets the goals of a society which is looking for environmentally-friendly food that is safe and healthy. As your partner in animal health, Royal GD has the knowledge and passion to support these goals with our high-quality and independent products and services.

The European Union is an upcoming market for export. Royal GD is able to support clients to profit from this opportu-

nity by offering you training with a focus on healthy animals and food safety in the EU. In an online training, GD Academy gives the opportunity to enhance your knowledge in the field of food safety. This training can be customized by choosing the topics mentioned below: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Introducing Mattheus Hekman At the start of 2022, Mattheus Hekman joined the Business Development department of Royal GD. He is responsible for projects, sales and support for the MEA region. As he has previously been working within the Bovine Division of our company, he will bring his experience with infectious diseases and knowledge of large-scale dairy farming to the team.

This will help support projects in dairy farming worldwide. His mission for 2022 is to share the knowledge and experience of Royal GD with disease control programmes worldwide and especially within the MEA region. He looks forward to meeting you!

10 - Update, April 2022

General aspects of the poultry industry: such as general healthcare and EU regulations for production.

EU reproduction sector: core breeding stock, importance of maternal antibodies and vaccination.

EU layer sector: an introduction to the monitoring programme and quality hallmark ‘better life label’.

EU broiler sector: emphasis on various housing systems, risks and diseases of the various systems.

Monitoring programmes: official Dutch monitoring programmes such as Avian Influenza, NDV, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Salmonella Pullorum/ Gallinarum and Zoonotic salmonella.

Requirements of laboratory tests, interpretation of monitoring lab results: sensitivity and specificity.

7.

8.

Biosecurity: more about hygiene, how to keep the pathogens out and how to follow the best guidelines.

Salmonella: an introduction to salmonella in layers, breeders and broilers.

This programme is suitable for a broad audience. Feel free to contact us to hear about the possibilities.

CONTACT US AT GDACADEMY@GDANIMALHEALTH.COM

Meet our experts at VIV Europe 2022 Join us at VIV Europe 2022. Our team is looking forward to seeing you at booth 10.D030 to share ideas on how you can benefit from our animal health expertise combined with diagnostics, applied research studies and disease control programmes. During our daily ‘Meet the expert’ sessions, from 13.00 to 18.00

(CEST), you can sit down with one of our experts: • • •

May 31: Prof. dr. Ynte Hein Schukken June 1: Manon Houben, DVM June 2: Prof. Sjaak de Wit, DVM, PhD, DipECPVS

Interested? Please contact support@ gdanimalhealth.com to make an appointment.

VIV Europe is scheduled for 31 May-2 June at Jaarbeurs Exhibition Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

MORE INFORMATION WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/VIV2022

news & communications

Customer Satisfaction survey 2021 How satisfied are you regarding your cooperation with Royal GD? And what are opportunities for improvement of our services for your organisation? These were the questions we asked our PTS and Diagnostics customers via our online customer satisfaction survey in November of last year. Our customers’ opinion is of great importance to us, as it can help us improve our services.

We are proud to inform you that our customers rated us with an 8.9 with regard to satisfaction with the cooperation with GD and we have reached a Net Promotor

Score (which measures the likelihood of recommending a product/service to others) of +65.3 and a Customer Effort Score (which measures the ease of service experience with an organisation) of +70.0.

Our online application, PTS final report and product information provision scored the highest marks. Our product range offers room for improvement, which will be one of our focus points for this year.

We would like to thank all customers for giving their valuable opinion by taking part in our survey!

Prevent infection at a young age with the VIR Check It is important to prevent poultry from becoming infected with pathogens, especially young chicks. Cleaning and disinfection of empty broiler houses plays an important role here. That’s why in 2019, we created VIR Check. A test that is based on 10 swabs from 6-7 day-old chicks and a quantitative multiplex PCR test assesses how many common intestinal viruses the chicks picked up in the first days of their lives. This gives you information about the effectiveness of broiler house cleaning and disinfection.

Together with ForFarmers De Hoop and veterinarians, GD conducted a field study into the relationship between the VIR Check and chick growth. A review of the data revealed a significant relationship between four groups within the VIR Check and daily growth rates: chicks

New telephone number Due to improvements made within our customer service, we now have a new telephone number. You can now reach us on: +31 (0)88 20 25 575. You can call customer service on working days from as early as 07:30 to 17:00. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We’re here for you!

with lower scores grow faster. This resulted in a new VIR Check score with four categories to give veterinarians and feed consultants further tools for a more focused approach to farm hygiene and disinfection.

Besides the fact that any poultry farmer naturally wants to have fewer pathogens in their broiler houses, farmers also enjoy greater chick growth by putting effort into improving their farm’s scores.

If a farm improves from category red to category green, this will result in more than 100 grams of extra growth per chick in 6 weeks!

MORE INFORMATION WWW.VIR-CHECK.COM

Digital only From now on, Update will no longer be printed, but only distributed digitally.

You will find a link to the browsable PDF in our digital newsletter and on our website. This way you always have the magazine on hand. Whether you are at the airport or at the office. Of course, the content will not be affected, and we continue to strive to write interesting pieces for our readers.

Meet us at the ESPHM in Budapest Royal GD will be present at the 13th European Symposium of Porcine Health Management (ESPHM) from 11th to 13th May 2022 in Budapest. Karlijn Eenink, DVM, will give an oral presentation about Vitamin D3 serum levels in finisher pigs at slaughter. We will also provide three scientific contributions about the following topics: haemorrhagic diathesis in piglets; Piglet OK, a practical tool to asses time of death of piglets during gestation and parturition and the search for a biomarker for gastric lesions in pigs. You can visit us at booth 11.

MORE INFORMATION WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/ESPHM2022

Products and rates available online Did you know that our products and rates are available online? This way you will always have the up-to-date rates on hand. Use the search option to select the products relevant to you, and the corresponding rates. Simply search our product range for one or more animal species or download the complete range for a specific species as a PDF and print it.

OUR RATES WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/RATES

Update, April 2022 - 11

GD specialist: Lucía Dieste Pérez The Royal GD specialists’ daily work is focused on expanding and sharing their extensive knowledge of animal diseases. As veterinarian at the swine department, Lucía Dieste Pérez focuses on research. Not only in the Netherlands, but more and more abroad. “I think it’s important to connect with each other.”

Lucía is originally from Zaragoza in Spain, so the international market is no stranger to her. She knows that making connections is important, especially if you want to do business with foreign partners. “Ever since I studied veterinary sciences in Spain, I’ve had lots of contacts abroad. From internships to jobs. One thing became clear: if you’re working on research, it’s always about networking and internationalisation. And that comes together at GD.” Collaboration That’s why she, aside from her work for Dutch clients, focuses on the international market as well. In research projects and proposals, but recently also for business development. “We are currently starting a collaboration with Spanish partners, and this is where my background comes in handy. I can remove cultural and language barriers and deepen the contacts.” It’s something that is new to her. “Of course I’m willing to help, because it is in my home country. But the need for a more international approach goes beyond that.

Not only between GD and Spain, but between GD and the rest of Europe. And I’m proud to support that.”

Specialisation While doing her specialisation in the European College of Porcine Health Management (ECPHM), she notices that foreign companies are generally aware of GD, but rarely know what really happens in Deventer. “When I tell people about the monitoring role played by GD, the laboratory, ability to do field studies as well as the animal facility, it wows them.

GD is really unique and I think it is my role to introduce people to the real GD: a decentralised company with huge amounts of data and expertise. Hopefully I can share this knowledge internationally.”

Internationalisation For the future, Lucía wants to be a familiar face of GD, so that people know with whom they can interact. “After my specialisation, I want to define my profile even further, so that people recognise me for a certain topic or research line.” Because she thinks networking and internationalisation are so important, Lucía hopes to be a bridge between different groups. By creating connections, she thinks GD will attract more interesting people from all over Europe. “I’ve realised that even though we live at close quarters in Europe, we are also very different. It’s key to recognise that and act accordingly.”

P.O. Box 9, 7400 AA Deventer, the Netherlands, T. +31 (0)88-2025575 www.gdanimalhealth.com, info@gdanimalhealth.com