The National Mastitis Council named Joseph “Joe” Hogan as the 2018 NMC Award of Excellence for Contribution to Mastitis Prevention and Control recipient. The 2006 NMC president, Hogan is an emeritus professor with Ohio State University. Boehringer Ingelheim sponsored the award, and presented Hogan with a $2,500 honorarium.

A native of Jonesboro, La., Hogan earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, master’s degree from the University of Kentucky and doctorate degree from the University of Vermont. In 1986, he became a post-doctoral researcher with the Mastitis Laboratory at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. A year later, he was promoted to research scientist in the department of dairy science at OARDC. His career progressed further to assistant professor, associate professor and professor in the department of animal sciences. In 2011, Hogan became associate chair of the department, a position he held until his retirement in 2016.

Hogan’s areas of expertise include: bovine mammary gland host defense against intramammary infections, virulence factors of mastitis-causing bacteria, and development of means to modulate bovine mammary defenses. Last year, he was inducted into OSU’s Dairy Science Hall of Fame.

Hogan’s commitment to NMC runs deep. He served on the Research Committee for 19 years, Teat Dip Committee for 12 years, Program Committee for three years, Long Range Planning Committee for nine years, and helped write two versions of Current Concepts of Bovine Mastitis and Laboratory Handbook on Bovine Mastitis, as well as the Microbiological Procedures for the Diagnosis of Bovine Udder Infection. One of his most notable contributions is developing and launching the NMC Scholars program.

In addition to his many contributions to NMC, Hogan also assisted the American Dairy Science Association and International Dairy Federation. For IDF, he served on the Animal Health Standing Committee and Mastitis Action Team. In 1994, Hogan received the Distinguished Research Award as the OARDC top junior scientist. He was also honored with the ADSA West-Agro Research Award. In 2014, he earned the ADSA Elanco Award for Excellence in Dairy Science.

Hogan has maintained an internationally recognized research program in mastitis control and quality milk production. His research has resulted in 119 peer-reviewed journal articles, 16 book chapters, 87 scientific abstracts, 226 lay articles, 39 invited symposium presentations and 239 invited seminar presentations.

The 2018 NMC Award of Excellence recipient has advised 13 graduate students, including Christina Petersson-Wolfe, an associate professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and past board member of NMC. She described her former adviser as a “steadfast NMC supporter.” From a research perspective, Petersson-Wolfe said Hogan’s most notable research contributions were related to the understanding of environmental mastitis pathogen control, impact of vitamin E and selenium on udder health, and the role of core antigen vaccines in mastitis control programs.

“Dr. Hogan not only showed me the world of milk microbiology but taught me the historical perspective on udder health, which is often lost in today’s graduate training,” wrote Petersson-Wolfe. “Dr. Hogan was also very passionate about the training of undergraduate students.”

In addition to his research program, Hogan had an active Extension program. The foundation of his Extension program was an active milk culturing laboratory. Each year, thousands of milk and bedding samples were processed and results were used to aid dairy producers in monitoring milk quality on dairy farms. Hogan also worked closely with many veterinarians who used the milk culturing laboratory as a service and sought advice with on-farm mastitis problems.

Source: NMC