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 John VargaJohn VargaJohn Varga is the John and Nancy Hughes Distinguished Professor in Rheumatology at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Dr Varga graduated from Columbia University in New York, USA and completed his medical studies at New York University, USA. He undertook Rheumatology training at Boston University, USA followed by a research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, USA with Professor Sergio Jimenez. In 2004, he joined the faculty of the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, USA, where he directs the multi-disciplinary Northwestern Scleroderma Program. His research focuses on the pathogenesis and treatment of scleroderma and fibrosis combining clinical and laboratory-based investigation. Dr Varga is the author of more than 240 original articles, 40 book chapters and 3 books. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Scleroderma Research Foundation. In 2007, he was elected a member of the Association of American Physicians. Lisa Christopher-StineLisa Christopher-StineLisa Christopher-Stine is Assistant Professor of Medicine and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA. She is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, USA where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, graduating cum laude. She attended medical school at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, USA where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Medical Honor Society. She later completed her internal medicine training at MCP Hahnemann University Hospitals and was chosen as Chief Resident. She joined the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology after completing her Rheumatology Fellowship at The Johns Hopkins University, USA in June, 2003. She was awarded a Master's degree in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2004. She is currently the Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Myositis Center, a multidisciplinary clinic formally established in 2007 on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. Dr Christopher-Stine is utilizing her training in epidemiology and biostatistics to develop improved diagnostic and classification criteria for the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. She has established a prospective myositis cohort at Johns Hopkins Hospital to undertake longitudinal cohort studies and to initiate future intervention protocols for patients with autoimmune myopathies. She is also the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for the myositis clinical trials taking place at Johns Hopkins. Dr Christopher-Stine's other research interest includes the etiology of statin-associated myotoxicity for which she has written medical reviews and recently, along with her colleagues, described a new form of immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy where HMGCoA Reductase serves as the autoantigenic target and is strongly linked to statin therapy. She currently serves as President of The Maryland Society for Rheumatic Diseases (MSRD), Maryland's state professional organization of rheumatologists and allied health professionals and is listed in Castle-Connolly's America's Top Doctor's.