Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Rheumatology was launched in 1989. It is one 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 Rheumatology is divided into 15 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 Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Alfred Mahr Prof. Mahr, MD, MPH, PhD, was appointed Chief of Internal Medicine at Hospital Saint-Louis at the University Paris 7-Diderot in Paris, France, in 2010. His major interest is in providing clinical care for patients with systemic vasculitides (e.g., ANCA-associated vasculitis, giant cell arteritis, Behçet's disease, Henoch-Schönlein purpura), connective tissue diseases and other multi-systemic rheumatic disorders. He received an MPH degree and a PhD degree in public health-epidemiology. Prof. Mahr's research focuses on the elucidation of the epidemiology and etiology and on diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of systemic vasculitides. He was actively involved in many studies of the French Vasculitis Study Group (FVSG), the European Vasculitis Study Group (EUVAS) as well as the North American Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC). He has authored and co-authored about 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Prof. Mahr has served as an Associate Editor for Rheumatology (Oxford) since 2011. Terrence GibsonTerrence GibsonDr Gibson was appointed to his current post in 1976 after training in London, UK, and Philadelphia, USA. Subsequently he spent extended periods working in New Zealand and Pakistan. An interest in metabolic medicine and gout prompted a series of studies to explore the relationship of hyperuricemia with obesity, hyperlipidemia, diet, hypertension and renal function. He was the first to identify the link between beer consumption and gout and the impairment of urate clearance that predisposes the Maori people of New Zealand to hyperuricemia. While maintaining an interest in gout, Dr Gibson has broad interests and has published more than 120 peer reviewed papers covering a wide spectrum including the epidemiology and characteristics of rheumatic and other diseases in Pakistan. He has edited a general medicine textbook (2009), a student book on rheumatology and was previously Editor of the British Journal of Rheumatology (now Rheumatology). He works as a rheumatologist and an acute physician. Cees KallenbergCees KallenbergCees G.M. Kallenberg, MD, graduated from the Medical School of the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. He was registered as an internist in 1980 and successfully completed his PhD studies on “Raynaud's Phenomenon and Systemic Autoimmune Disease” in 1982 at the University Medical Center, Groningen, the Netherlands. He was appointed as Associate Professor in Internal Medicine - Clinical Immunology in 1985 and as full Professor in 1993. He chaired the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the Groningen University, the Netherlands, until May 1, 2011. His main research is on systemic autoimmune diseases, in particular ANCA-associated vasculitides, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Sjögren's syndrome. He has written more than 500 articles on these subjects in international peer-reviewed journals. He is an invited speaker on his research topics at all major international meetings, and is an editorial board member of several journals in clinical immunology, nephrology and rheumatology.