A turning point

Seventeen years ago I was given the great honor and responsibility of succeeding Frank Oski, the founding editor-in-chief of Contemporary Pediatrics. The original Editorial Board and contributors of Contemporary Pediatrics included some of the most dedicated educators and clinicians in the country, and many of them, through their work on the magazine as well as in their roles as educators generally, continued to inform, provoke, challenge, and befriend pediatricians right up until their deaths-deaths that came much too early for Joseph St. Geme Jr, Frank Oski, Walter Tunnessen, and Caroline Hall.

The current Editorial Board members, respected clinicians and educators in their own right, have brought energy, insight, and commitment to maintaining the value and relevance of Contemporary Pediatrics. The goal of the magazine, as stated in Frank’s initial editorial published in September 1984, was to “emphasize the recent and the practical-the kind of information you can use with your patients immediately.” Frank ended that editorial by stating, “We’ll try to keep you moving in the right direction.” During the past 17 years we’ve kept Frank’s purpose in mind as we’ve selected topics, authors, and format.

After a total of almost 200 monthly editorials, this will be my last. I’m confident, however, that pediatricians, nurse practitioners, and others who work to improve the health of children will continue to value the information provided on the pages of Contemporary Pediatrics, whether those “pages” are electronic or paper, Tweets or Facebook postings.

In addition to the Editorial Board members, there are many people who have worked every month during the past 17 years to ensure that the content of Contemporary Pediatrics is as informative, helpful, accurate, and readable as possible. Editors Jeff Forster, the late Catherine Brown, John Baranowski, and Toby Hindin were true partners for me. Their creativity and commitment to excellence set high standards for everyone who worked with them-illustrators, medical editors, sales staff, as well as authors. The magazine has also been enriched by the regular contributions of the contributing editors, Michael Burke, Bernard Cohen, Andrew Schuman, and George Siberry, who carried on the Puzzler tradition after Tunnessen’s death.

I am particularly grateful to the physicians, nurse practitioners, residents, and fellows who have contributed articles to Contemporary Pediatrics. These authors are all very busy people who felt that they had information to share that would lead to improved care for pediatric patients. I hope that our readers have learned as much as I have from these generous and thoughtful individuals.

Finally, thanks to the readers of Contemporary Pediatrics. You and your patients are the reasons the magazine exists.