Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Lipidology was launched in 1990. It is part of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of lipidology is divided into six sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Kausik K. RayKausik K. RayProfessor Ray received his medical education (MB ChB, 1991) at the University of Birmingham Medical School, UK. His clinical training in Cardiology was conducted in Birmingham and Sheffield and he obtained his MD (2004) at the University of Sheffield, UK, for work on the interleukin 1 system and its influence on endothelial function, inflammation and coronary disease. He pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, USA, under Professor Braunwald and Professor Cannon and finally an MPhil in epidemiology (2007) from the University of Cambridge, UK. A Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the Royal College of Physicians, Kausik Ray is also a member of the British Cardiovascular Society and the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) Consensus Panel. Professor Ray has been the national lead investigator, served on the committees or been PI for several major medical trials, including T-EMERGE 8, SOLID TIMI 52, SAVOR TIMI 54, DAL OUTCOMES II, DAL-ACUTE, ODYSSEY OUTCOMES, DECLARE TIMI 58, CAMELIA TIMI 61 and THEMIS. Professor Ray's research interests have focused on large scale population studies and trials for the prevention and reduction of coronary events. He has investigated the early benefits of high intensity statin therapy, the advantages of more/less intensive glycaemic control, and the risks/benefits of aspirin therapy. These have influenced American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology and European Society of Cardiology guidelines. His work on statins and diabetes risk led to a global label change for statins by the FDA and EMEA. He continues to investigate the role of lipids, lipoproteins, diabetes, inflammation and thrombosis, and coronary events. Professor Ray has published his research in numerous journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Archives of Internal Medicine, Circulation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and the European Heart Journal. Currently, Professor Ray leads the EAS familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) Studies Collaboration and the first global FH registry as well as being the principal investigator for the TOGETHER study assessing vascular risk in 250 000 individuals in London. G. Kees HovinghG. Kees HovinghDr G. Kees Hovingh (1974) is an internist, vascular medicine specialist and staff member at the Department of Vascular Medicine at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He received his medical degree at Groningen University, the Netherlands, in 2000. During his study, he spent one year (1999) at the department for organ transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. In 2001, he started his PhD under supervision of Prof. dr J.J.P. Kastelein, head of the Department of Vascular Medicine at the AMC. During his PhD, several studies were performed which ranged from clinical intervention trials to basic-research, including large scale sequencing of candidate genes. During his thesis, Dr Hovingh focused on studies to unravel the molecular defects underlying HDL disorders and studies addressing its consequences for atherosclerosis progression. Dr Hovingh has identified mutations in a large number of pivotal genes in lipid metabolism. In 2005, Dr Hovingh started his residency in internal medicine at the AMC. Between 2007 and 2008, he was trained in molecular medicine as a post-doctoral fellow in the Genetics Department at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Under the supervision of Profs. C.E. Seidman and J. Seidman he worked on a novel subgenome capture method for next generation sequencing. Dr Hovingh's position at the AMC and the department of Vascular Medicine allows him to devote his time to science, and in particular to scientific guidance of PhD students. Moreover, his clinical position does enable him to identify patients with extreme lipid phenotypes. He is head of the clinical trial unit and is (co-author) on 130 peer reviewed manuscripts.