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EVP: Systems Health Management

Applicable to veterinarians, production personnel, and rising leaders within swine, beef, dairy, and poultry organizations.
We are not currently accepting applications.

The History of EVP

Thirty-two years ago, Dr. LeRoy Biehl recognized a need for an intensive training program to fill the knowledge gap and the need for professional growth for livestock veterinarians: business, management, and strategic competencies required to thrive in our industry beyond the traditional roles of practice. The program has proven its value and worth among generations of veterinarians.

Changes in veterinary practice, the livestock industries, and society suggest it is time for a re-imagined EVP to address the needs of veterinarians and animal owners in the 21st century.

EVP re-imagined:

Animal production industries and veterinary practice both have undergone significant consolidation. Technology and digital tools have become ubiquitous in both our professional and personal lives. Larger and more complex systems facilitated by both changes in business practices and technology require new skills to have sustained career success. We share Dr. Biehl’s passion for professional growth and are excited about how a renewed EVP can help people achieve their goals for the next 30 years.

EVP in Systems Health Management (EVP-SHM) represents an evolution in both content and format from EVP Swine Health Management and EVP Beef Health Management. EVP-SHM is focused on developing, practicing, and using systems-based thinking skills and techniques to improve animal health, well-being, and performance. EVP-SHM is designed to help you take an engineering-based approach to the improvement of production and health outcomes.

EVP-SHM has a new course format

The historical EVP was a terminal, non-academic credit program that met every other month for 8-12 sessions. The re-imagined EVP is an academic credit graduate certificate program that will meet over four semesters in a hybrid online residential format. The new format is designed to have the benefits of learning from your classmates which has been a hallmark of EVP while creating new opportunities to use the knowledge and skills you learn to address real-world problems in group-based case studies between residential sessions. The transaction to 16 hours of courses with academic credit allows participants to complete a master’s degree in as little as one year after completing EVP as the credits are fully transferable to a degree program.

The EVP-SHM is designed for individuals that have or hope to have leadership roles in systems-based food production and are focused on applying systems-based management to health and production improvement. Four courses that comprise the certificate program:

Course 1:

System Measurement

  • Data capture organization, and storage
  • Business communication
  • Business strategy
  • Critical thinking

Course 2:

Data Analysis

  • Data validation and cleaning
  • Data visualization
  • Data analysis
  • Critical thinking
  • Business strategy

Course 3:

Solution Development

  • Root cause analysis
  • Process flow maps
  • Theory of constraints
  • Business strategy
  • Critical thinking

Course 4:

Implementation

  • SPC analysis and process capability
  • Organizational behavior
  • Change management

For more information, please contact Kaylee Hillinger: kawilli2@illinois.edu