Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Oncology 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 psychiatry 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 Robert PirkerRobert PirkerRobert Pirker is currently Professor of Medicine and Program Director for Lung Cancer at the Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He obtained a master's degree in Biochemistry in 1978 and his medical degree in 1979 from the University of Vienna. Robert Pirker trained in Internal Medicine, Hemato-Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the University of Vienna. He also worked as NIH Visiting Fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Chief: Dr Ira Pastan), National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA (1983–86). He specialises in hemato-oncology. His research focuses on drug resistance mechanisms in patients with cancer, chemotherapy and targeted therapy of lung cancer, predictive factors in lung cancer, and anaemia management in patients with cancer. As a member of the IALT-Bio and LACE-Bio groups, he has been involved in the characterization of predictive factors with regard to adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with completely resected NSCLC. He was also the world-wide Co-ordinating Investigator of the FLEX trial. Robert Pirker has published more than 150 articles, reviews or book chapters. He is an editorial board member of Lung Cancer, ESMO faculty member on Chest Tumors, and has been a member including Chair of the IASLC Education Committee. He was Congress President of the 8th Central European Lung Cancer Congress in 2002 and Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Multidisciplinary Conference on Thoracic Oncology in 2009. He will be Congress President of the 14th Central European Lung Cancer Congress in 2014 and the 17th World Congress on Lung Cancer in 2016 in Vienna, Austria. He is also Chair of the Steering Committee of the recently launched Central European Initiative against Lung Cancer. Robert Pirker has received several scientific awards and has been a member of ESMO, ASCO and other scientific societies for many years. Reinhard DummerReinhard DummerProfessor Reinhard Dummer is Professor of the University of Zurich and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Dermatology in the University Hospital of Zürich, Switzerland and is a key thought leader in worldwide cutaneous oncology. Currently he is head of the Skin Cancer Unit and the Clinical Trial Unit of the Department of Dermatology. Professor Dummer began his medical education in haematology and oncology before successfully completing his dermatology residency in Würzburg, Germany, and Zürich in 1992. He is Board Certified in allergology, clinical immunology, dermatology and dermatopathology. Professor Dummer's principal research interests are molecular biology, immunology and immunotherapy of cutaneous malignancies, including cutaneous lymphomas and melanomas. He has published more than 560 papers with a cumulative impact factor of more than 4790. He has been President of the Melanoma Project Group of the Swiss Institute for Applied Cancer Research since 1999, is board member of the Society for Melanoma Research and past President of the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas. He is a founding and board member of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO), and past President of the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR).