Time to refresh, rejuvenate, restore

Warm greetings and happy Spring! This is my first column as the new Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Pediatrics and I want to first express my excitement at being chosen for this position-a true honor for me.

Pediatric medicine is dynamic, diverse, and intellectually challenging, and I believe that we as pediatric health care providers have the best job in the world. We are privileged to be entrusted to provide medical care and advice to generations of infants, children, teenagers, and young adults. What other specialty can say that getting an infant to smile, a child to giggle, talking to our patients and their families about “Paw Patrol,” superheroes, dragons, Legos, magic tricks, “Minecraft” and other videos games, and sports are all part of a normal workday!

Contemporary Pediatrics was first published in September 1984 and has been around for almost 36 years. Even though it remains a very strong and well-respected publication, like anything else it is time for a change to update and refresh the brand and make it more vibrant.

A new outlook

I have several short-term goals that I believe will help to improve the publication.

First and foremost, I want the information published in Contemporary Pediatrics to be timely, practical, diverse, and, above all, be a useful resource of information to all pediatric practitioners that they can use in their day-today practice. This was the major driving goal of Dr. Frank A. Oski (the founding editor of Contemporary Pediatrics) when he launched the publication and one that remains critical to the mission of the journal.

Second, I would like to update the Editorial Advisory Board so that it is reflective of the diversity of today’s pediatric health care providers. This will provide a greater breadth and depth to

the information published in the journal.

And third, I plan to expand the publication’s appeal to the younger generation of pediatric health care providers and pediatric residents. This will involve exploring the different venues of providing information to this generation of pediatric practitioners and, most importantly, elicit their suggestions as to the types of information that they would find useful in their practice settings. Also, I would like to expand the circulation of this publication to pediatric residency programs and create a section of the journal that specifically addresses the issues that pediatric trainees currently face.

Change is with us

Author A.A. Milne said that “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” This has never been truer than now with the way that the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way that pediatric medicine is being practiced. It has forced all of us to adapt to a new way of providing care to our patients.

As we navigate these challenging times, we as pediatric health care providers are a creative and hardy group, and when this difficult time passes we will emerge stronger and more resilient in our commitment to providing outstanding care to our patients.

This is going to be a wonderful adventure, and I look forward to sharing this adventure with you. I invite your suggestions, comments, and questions as we continue to explore the great field of Pediatrics.