col·leaguen. a fellow worker or a fellow member of a profession
col·le·gialv. 1. collegiate (of colleges); 2. sharing responsibility in a group endeavor
co·op·er·atev.i. to work or act together for a common purpose or benefit
—Adapted from Random House Webster's Dictionary, Third Edition
One of the most remarkable gifts one receives in serving as editor for a professional journal is that it provides so many opportunities for rich collaboration with colleagues. The role of editor allows one to share in the creative, constructive endeavors of authors. It is an invitation for working with reviewers in a manner that evaluates the quality of scholarship within a field while also fostering the development of scholars. The role of editor of Academic Psychiatry serves as a platform for collaboration with members of the AADPRT and AAP; with individuals across diverse disciplines in medicine, education, the social sciences, and the humanities; and with editors of other professional journals. It also offers the opportunity to work with the talented people who take each issue of the journal from the conceptual to the palpable: guest editors, column authors, editorial board members, and editorial staff. These cooperative interactions offer unique sustenance to editors. More importantly, though, they are essential to fulfilling the duties incumbent upon editors in advancing a scholarly field, ensuring the scientific and ethical standards represented in written work, and being responsive to the professions and to broader society.
For these reasons, developing the team of editors who will work with Academic Psychiatry over the next several years was a responsibility of special importance to the leadership of AADPRT and AAP. The most recent demonstration of this commitment was the Associate Editor selection process for our journal. A three-step national search was conducted, and many strong candidates emerged in this process. The task was carried out conscientiously—and, I am happy to report, with outstanding results. In this column, it is my great pleasure to introduce our two new associate editors for Academic Psychiatry, Dr. John Coverdale and Dr. Alan Louie.
Dr. Coverdale is a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the Baylor School of Medicine and holds an honorary faculty position as Associate Professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He has written extensively on many psychiatric education topics, and he has been actively involved in medical student and resident teaching for many years. He has a dedicated interest in evidence-based medicine and in diverse issues encompassing women's health, infectious disease, psychosocial interventions in serious mental illness, and the media. In his work with the journal, Dr. Coverdale hopes to help stimulate an increase in the quality and number of submissions, especially in the original research category, and to help improve the quality and timeliness of the review processes of the journal. He describes himself as having greatly benefited from the mentoring practices of former editors of our journal and will dedicate himself to this worthy tradition in his new role.
Dr. Louie is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and serves as the director of psychiatry residency training at the San Mateo County program affiliated with UCSF. He was trained at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California at San Francisco; has received a Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health; and is also Director of the Anxiety and Affective Disorders Consultation Program at the Langley Porter Institute. He has worked in basic science and clinical research and has concentrated in neuropsychopharmacology. In assisting with the journal, Dr. Louie is especially interested in applying education theories and research methods to psychiatric education, developing valid and reliable methods of measuring the competencies in psychiatry, assisting careers of academic psychiatrists in education and scholarship, and working with residents with unique interests and commitments, such as minority trainees and residents interested in research.
It is clear that Drs. Coverdale and Louie are extremely well qualified and that they bring different skills, experience, and emphases to our journal. These attributes were what mathematicians call "necessary but not sufficient," however. It was their commitment to collegiality and cooperation, their warmth, and their sincerity that declared their fitness for the role of Associate Editor. They will do extraordinary work for Academic Psychiatry.
I also wish to acknowledge with gratitude the continuity, collegiality, and excellence provided by our two column editors. Dr. Eugene Beresin, Associate Professor at Harvard and Director of Child and Adolescent Residency Training Massachusetts General and McLean Hospitals, has edited our media column with brilliance and has often contributed to it as a writer. These columns are written in a manner that is both scholarly and entertaining, a remarkable combination. Dr. Richard Tiberius, the author of our Educational Abstracts column, has established an international reputation for his efforts in improving teaching and learning processes, focusing especially on the role of the teacher—student relationship. Dr. Tiberius's column has been a mainstay of the journal, keeping psychiatric educators in touch with advances in the field of education. It is with great reluctance and sadness that we will "permit" Dr. Tiberius to discontinue this role with the journal as of this issue—a transition necessitated by his recent move and acceptance of significant responsibilities at his new institution.
With the appointment of Drs. Coverdale and Louie and the assembly of the editorial staff at American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., and at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, we now have our full complement. We are here to work with you, Dear Colleague, and we hope you will be in touch with us.