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 Frank M. SacksFrank M. SacksDr Sacks is Professor of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in the Nutrition Department of Harvard Chan School of Public Health; Professor of Genetics & Complexes Diseases; and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr Sacks led the panel designing the DASH Study, which crafted a healthful eating pattern and demonstrated that it lowered blood pressure more effectively than any previous dietary treatment. Subsequently Dr Sacks led the DASH-Sodium study, which determined the dose-response effect of dietary sodium on BP. These multi-center National Heart Lung and Blood Institute trials found major beneficial additive effects of low salt and a dietary pattern rich in fruits and vegetables on blood pressure. He also led the seminal PoundsLost trial which showed the percentage of calories from fat or carbohydrate had no effect on long term weight loss. Currently, he is co-investigator of the MIND study, a randomized trial of a diet that combines features of the Mediterranean and DASH diets to preserve cognition in older people, funded by the National Institute on Aging. Dr Sacks's laboratory has studied the role of apolipoproteins in atherogenic lipoprotein metabolism in obesity and hypertriglyceridemia. He authored over 30 research papers on apoC-3 and/or apoE. Recently he discovered that a type of HDL that contains apolipoprotein C-III predicted higher rates of heart disease and diabetes, the opposite to the protective relation for the total HDL; and impaired HDL function in reverse cholesterol transport. Dr Sacks teaches at Harvard School of Public Health as course director for nutritional metabolism and biochemistry. Dr Sacks received the 2011 Research Achievement Award of the American Heart Association for lifetime research accomplishment. Majken K. JensenMajken K. JensenMajken K. Jensen, PhD, is Associate Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr Jensen's primary research interests include novel metabolic markers, nutrition, and genetics, in relation to chronic lifestyle diseases. In ongoing collaborations with Dr Frank Sacks, they investigate how the presence of a small proinflammatory protein (apolipoprotein C-III) on HDL particles marks a potentially dysfunctional type of HDL that is not inversely associated with risk of cardiometabolic health, such as IMT, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Other currently funded work is focused on lipoprotein metabolism and Alzheimer's disease and stroke. Her research predominantly utilizes large-scale observational studies (including the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, the Nurses’ Health Study, the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and the Cardiovascular Health Study) where cost-efficient prospective case-control studies are nested within for purpose of measuring novel biomarkers or genome-wide markers. Dr Jensen's research has been published in leading scientific journals and has been recognized with numerous awards. She received the Trudy Bush Fellowship for Cardiovascular Disease Research in Women's Health from the American Heart Association in 2011 and originally came for research studies at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health as a Fulbright scholar. Dr Jensen has published over 80 original research articles and 5 reviews, editorials, and letters.