Expert support designed around the decision.

How Aster can help

• Serve as a fractional chief science or research officer to shape strategy, planning, and implementation.
• Assess existing programs, organizational capabilities, stakeholder needs, and gaps to identify where scientific leadership can add the greatest value.
• Develop annual and multiyear strategic plans that connect mission, scientific priorities, staffing, partnerships, and available resources.
• Guide nonprofit leadership, board governance, program budgets, contracts, and operational animal health priorities.
• Prepare board and executive decision materials that explain options, scientific evidence, resource needs, and recommended next steps.
• Build an animal health initiative or consortium for a producer or veterinary sector, including mission and goals, leadership structure, and a first-year plan.
• Turn broad animal health goals into assigned work, timelines, milestones, budget priorities, and clear measures of progress.
• Support leadership transitions, clarify staff and consultant responsibilities, and maintain continuity across research and communication programs.
• Review progress with leadership and recommend adjustments to remain nimble as disease risks, funding, and stakeholder needs change.

How Aster can help

• Monitor U.S. and global swine and livestock disease developments, emerging research, and official animal-health reports to identify threats relevant to the client.
• Translate monitoring signals into concise leadership briefings that distinguish established findings, uncertainties, and implications for the sector.
• Design and deliver monthly or quarterly presentations tailored to boards, producer groups, veterinary teams, and animal-health officials.
• Prepare disease-specific evidence summaries covering transmission, affected populations, diagnostic approaches, prevention options, and unanswered questions.
• Identify preparedness gaps and help prioritize surveillance questions, research needs, biosecurity education, and partner coordination.
• Develop preparedness plans and scenario discussions that clarify responsibilities, information needs, communication pathways, and next steps.
• Coordinate scientific input from producers, veterinarians, researchers, and federal and state animal health officials to support a shared understanding of risk.
• Draw on BSL-2 and BSL-3 swine virology experience involving ASFV, PRRSV, PRRSV/PCV2 co-infection, CSFV, PRV, and PEDV to assess research approaches and project needs.
• Connect disease intelligence with targeted research investments and practical communication materials for prevention and preparedness.

How Aster can help

• Convene subject matter experts and producers to develop research priorities and build consensus.
• Build an annual research plan from stakeholder surveys, listening sessions, expert prioritization, budget estimates, and board review.
• Draft the solicitation, proposal template, submission instructions, eligibility rules, and schedule; distribute the opportunity broadly.
• Screen submissions for completeness and alignment with the stated priorities, then recruit and assign independent subject matter reviewers by expertise.
• Manage reviewer conflicts of interest, use consistent and objective scoring criteria for ranking, and develop documented funding recommendations for the client's approval.
• Communicate decisions and reviewer feedback to applicants, then coordinate award terms, milestones, reporting requirements, and project launch.
• Track progress through the project lifecycle against contract deliverables and support release of interim and final report findings for practical use.
• Oversee investigators and subcontractors, help resolve issues during execution, and carry findings through stakeholder dissemination and field application.
• Advise on experimental design, study protocols, regulatory review planning, data quality, analysis, and publication strategy for specialized research.
• Synthesize findings and translate peer-reviewed evidence into useful actions for producers and veterinarians.

How Aster can help

• Develop grant concepts, budgets, proposals and supporting materials for producer associations, veterinary organizations, nonprofits, research teams and other partners.
• Assess funding opportunities against the proposed work, applicant eligibility, partner capabilities, required deliverables, and submission timelines.
• Form research consortia across production systems, veterinary groups, universities, government, and industry around a shared animal-health objective.
• Coordinate lead-applicant roles, scopes of work, partner responsibilities, letters of support, and commitments for matching funding or in-kind contributions.
• Build proposal narratives that connect the scientific need, approach, team qualifications, milestones, expected outcomes, and benefits to stakeholders.
• Coordinate partner budgets and justifications so the requested resources align with the planned work and funding requirements.
• Organize proposal development schedules, collect supporting documents, and review applications for completeness and consistency before submission.
• Support awarded projects with kickoff planning, milestone tracking, partner coordination, reporting, and stewardship against grant commitments.
• Summarize program outcomes and producer value for funders, boards, and partners, and identify opportunities for follow-on collaboration.

How Aster can help

• Design and facilitate board meetings, technical working groups, research panels, and multi-organization planning sessions.
• Gather input through stakeholder interviews, surveys, and listening sessions to identify shared priorities and differing needs.
• Build meeting agendas, background materials, and discussion questions around the specific decisions the group needs to make.
• Bring together representative scientific, producer, veterinary, government, and industry perspectives for consensus building.
• Facilitate research-priority workshops and structured discussion of scientific gaps, feasibility, urgency, and potential producer value.
• Help participants evaluate options, work through competing priorities, and develop documented recommendations for leadership review.
• Clarify working-group membership, responsibilities, expected contributions, and coordination between technical experts and decision makers.
• Document decisions, responsible parties, next steps, and unresolved questions so momentum continues after the meeting.
• Cultivate partnerships for co-funded research and support follow-up communication to keep organizations aligned during implementation.

How Aster can help

• Prepare executive disease-intelligence briefs, webinars, presentations, and written updates tailored to the audience and decision.
• Interpret emerging disease data and research outcomes for producers, veterinarians, state pork and livestock associations, federal and state animal health officials, boards, and funders.
• Develop producer-targeted summaries, fact sheets, FAQs, educational materials, and presentations that convert findings into actions for biosecurity and on-farm management.
• Translate technical reports and peer-reviewed publications into key messages, practical considerations, and clearly stated evidence gaps.
• Prepare board presentations, program summaries, and research-investment updates that explain results, progress, and value to stakeholders.
• Develop scientific talking points, media briefing materials, interview preparation, and coordinated messages for emerging disease developments.
• Provide scientific review of articles, podcasts, presentation materials, and public-facing communications for accuracy, clarity, and appropriate interpretation.
• Deliver invited talks, webinars, and educational sessions on swine research, virology, emerging disease preparedness, feed biosecurity, and gut microbiome connections to animal health.
• Adapt content for producer meetings, veterinary audiences, industry conferences, and leadership briefings, with discussion and practical takeaways suited to each group.