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An Opportunity to Carry on the Mission
Arch Surg. 2005;140:16.
I cannot express how excited I am to become the new Editor of the Archives of Surgery in 2005. I was very surprised to be considered for the position by Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, the current Editor in Chief of Scientific Publications and Multimedia Applications for JAMA and the Archives Journals, and even more surprised to be awarded the position. To succeed Claude H. Organ, Jr, MD, after his 17 years of service is also quite humbling. He has always been one of my heroes.
When one reads the Archives of Surgery, one finds the mission statement on the masthead page in the front of each issue. This mission statement was approved by the Editorial Board in 1996 and reads as follows:
To promote the art and science of surgery by publishing relevant peer-reviewed clinical and basic science information to assist the surgeon in optimizing patient care. The Archives of Surgery will also serve as a forum for the discussion of issues that involve ethics, teaching, surgical history, and socioeconomic concerns.
Eight years later, this mission statement still rings true, in fact, more so than ever. Our primary goal should always be to take the best care of our patients. The Archives of Surgery should play a major role in helping the surgeon do that, and it should be a forum for all the changes that are occurring in our discipline today. These changes include training paradigms, the 80-hour work week, women and minorities in surgery, malpractice concerns, universal access to health care, and hopefully many more as we move forward in the future in surgery. I hope to provide a good sounding board, as Dr Organ always has, to present all sides of these and other issues as they arise.
I have chosen 2 Associate Editors to help me with this great opportunity: Richard D. Schulick, MD, and Edward E. Cornwell III, MD, FCCM. Dr Schulick is an associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md, and is a surgical oncologist; Dr Cornwell is also a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins as well as chief of its Trauma Service. Both are looking forward to being part of the Archives of Surgery team. In addition, Terry Carter will join our administrative team here at Johns Hopkins and will run the office for the Archives of Surgery beginning January 1, 2005. Ms Carter has previously worked for the Archives Journals family when she was the administrator for the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, working with Dr DeAngelis.
I look forward to working with the Editorial Board and to taking over the reins this month from Dr Organ, who has selected issue content through the March publication of the ARCHIVES. Our first editorial meeting will be June 29, 2005, at the American Medical Association's headquarters in Chicago, Ill. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions from the members of the Editorial Board as well as our readers in the meantime.
Calvin Coolidge said: "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor is given by what he gave."
I want to thank Dr Organ for all he has given us.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Correspondence: Dr Freischlag, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 720 Rutland Ave, Ross 759, Baltimore, MD 21205 (archsurg{at}jama-archives.org).
Julie Ann Freischlag, MD
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