On any given day, Iowa State veterinary researcher Daniel Linhares might be in a barn, on a data call, or meeting with pork producers across the country. The setting may change, but the question guiding his work stays the same: how to keep animals healthier and production more efficient in real-world conditions.
“It’s not rocket science,” Linhares says. “It’s about using what’s already available, tailoring interventions to specific needs from producers, optimizing returns over investments.”
Since joining Iowa State in 2015, Linhares has built the “field epi” group, short for field epidemiology. The name reflects both where the work happens — out in barns and production systems — and how it works by studying pig populations to guide better decisions.
Rather than developing new technologies, Linhares focuses on something more practical: how to make existing tools work better to improve health and productivity in swine populations. His team evaluates the efficacy of vaccines, biosecurity measures, treatments, and management strategies, asking detailed questions about timing, combinations, and conditions.
“There’s no one silver bullet,” he says. “It’s about putting a package together.”
He compares this approach to the way the world managed COVID-19. Vaccines mattered, but so did testing, hand washing, and social distancing. Swine population health works the same way. Success comes from layering multiple tactics.
That approach is especially critical when dealing with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a widespread viral disease that continues to challenge the U.S. pork industry. In severe cases, it can kill young pigs. Linhares works with producers to prevent outbreaks and to respond quickly when they occur to mitigate the clinical and production losses as much as possible.
His work is deeply data-driven. His team gathers information from farms, veterinary clinics, and diagnostic labs, then analyzes statistical patterns across large populations.
“Epidemiology is about being right most of the time,” Linhares says. “Not necessarily for every pig, but certainly for most populations.”
That population-level perspective allows the team to tailor strategies. A farm surrounded by many other pork producers faces different risks than an isolated herd. By combining data with field insight, Linhares and the field epi team help producers choose approaches that fit their specific conditions.
The impact extends beyond individual farms. Healthier pigs mean improved animal welfare, stronger outcomes for producers, and more efficient, sustainable food production.
“If we prevent even one pig from dying,” he says, “that’s better for the producer, better for the animal, and better for the world.”
That emphasis on steady improvement, layering effort and refining over time, shapes other parts of Linhares’ life as well.
On a recent afternoon, he was at the gym with his two sons, spotting lifts and trading encouragement as his oldest prepares for college.
“I realized he would be leaving soon,” Linhares says. “So, I thought, better spend time with him. Then we just found ourselves enjoying the time together at the Nevada Barbell.”
Linhares and his spouse Leticia, who also works in Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, moved to Iowa from Brazil with their two sons. With extended family far away, they have built a close-knit life centered on time together, something he has learned not to take for granted.
Back at work, that same mindset shows up in how Linhares works with students.
His research group is built around graduate students, who design studies, analyze data, and work directly with industry partners. Over time, many become experts in their own right, leading projects, shaping industry practices, and in some cases returning to Iowa State as colleagues.
“There’s no better prize for me than seeing them rise and become a star of their own,” he says.
Showing up in barns . . . in meetings . . . in the gym with his sons . . . doing the work one consistent step at a time. The repetition and continuity of Linhares’ approach may not look dramatic, but that’s the point. Progress, whether in animal health or in life, is built the same way: not in a single leap, but in steady, deliberate layers.