Mark Asuncion (he/him)

• Program: MSc candidate | ABVP candidate
• Supervisor: Dr. John Harding, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences
• Home community: Lethbridge, Alta. 

• DVM, Central Luzon State University 2011, Philippines
• BSc Animal Husbandry, Central Luzon State University 2009, Philippines

Dr. Mark Asuncion is a foreign-trained veterinarian from the Philippines who relocated to Canada in 2015. Before joining the WCVM's swine medicine residency program, he worked as a swine technician and veterinary assistant at Precision Veterinary Services Inc. in Lethbridge, Alta.

Dr. Asuncion is now pursuing board certification in swine health management with the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His research aims to standardize and evaluate tele-necropsy procedures in nursery, grower and finisher pigs. Driven by a strong interest in diagnostic investigation and the hands-on nature of post-mortem work, he values this project for its potential to modernize diagnostics and to enhance remote disease detection for the swine industry.

A substantial proportion of pig mortalities on remote swine farms remain unexamined, resulting in missed diagnostic opportunities and limited ability to identify and address underlying health and production challenges. In Western Canada, geographic distance, limited veterinary availability and stringent biosecurity requirements frequently restrict access to on-farm post-mortem examinations, so that causes of death are inferred rather than diagnostically confirmed.

This research will integrate field-based investigations with diagnostic laboratory analyses to establish a standardized tele-necropsy framework that facilitates post-mortem examinations by trained barn personnel under remote veterinary guidance. The overall objective is to develop and validate a tele-necropsy guide and training program that enables accurate remote morphological diagnosis by swine veterinarians.