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 Andrew NewbyAndrew NewbyAndrew Newby is British Heart Foundation Professor of Vascular Cell Biology at the University of Bristol, UK. He graduated in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) from Cambridge, UK, and studied for a PhD with Professor C.N. Hales FRS. He then worked on adenylate cyclase with Nobel Laureate Martin Rodbell at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Afterwards, he held a Beit Memorial Fellowship in Cambridge where he elucidated the metabolic pathways responsible for production of the cardioprotective metabolite, adenosine. Subsequently, he was successively Non-clinical Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor in Cardiff, UK. While continuing to work on adenosine, he contributed to the identification of the endothelium-derived relaxing factor as nitric oxide. He is most known however, for discovering a role for matrix degrading metalloproteinases in vascular smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation in vein grafts, after angioplasty and in atherosclerosis. His elucidation of the inflammatory basis of metalloproteinase production is continuing to shed light on the role of inflammation in plaque rupture and myocardial infarction. He was one of the first vascular biologists to use adenovirus-mediated gene transfer which he now combines with other post-genome technologies. This work has led to more than 150 peer-reviewed research papers and 30 reviews, which have collectively attracted 8000 citations (H>57). It was continuously supported by UK programme grants for the past 20 years. Prof. Newby was also Co-Director of the EC-funded European Vascular Genomics Network. Prof. Newby has served on grants committees of the major UK Research Councils and Charities and also reviewed grants for Belgian, Dutch, French, German and other overseas bodies. He serves on editorial boards for various journals including Atherosclerosis, ATVB and Cardiovascular Research. Prof. Newby has been an EAS member for many years and recently served on the Programme Committee for the Helsinki and Gothenburg congresses. He has more than 20 years involvement with the European Society of Cardiology, being a founder member and later Chair of the working group Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis, a member of the Congress Programme Committee and Chairman of the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science. He now dedicates himself to running the biennial ESC Summer Schools in Cardiovascular Biology. Perhaps most significantly he re-launched and was President of the European Vascular Biology Organisation from 2006 to 2010. Website http://www.bristol.ac.uk/clinicalsciencesouth/people/personpages/a.newby.html. Mohamad NavabMohamad NavabMohamad Navab is a Professor of Medicine and Cardiology and a co-project leader at David Geffen school of medicine, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA. He obtained his PhD in biochemistry from Columbia University, USA, in 1976. Subsequently, he served as an Assistant Professor and Head of Clinical Labs at the National University School of Medicine in Tehran, Iran. He started his research and teaching first at the UCLA Cancer Center in 1981 and subsequently at the Division of Cardiology at UCLA where he has been since 1983. He has received research support from NIH and has served as grant reviewer for the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute at NIH and the American Heart Association. He serves on the editorial board and advisory board of a dozen scientific journals. He has authored or been a coauthor for 195 papers indexed at PubMed and has presented 169 invited national and international medical lectures.