Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Neurology was launched in 1988. 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 neurology is divided into 14 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 Editors and Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Jean-Marc LégerJean-Marc LégerDr Léger started his career in neurology at the University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière and University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), France, in 1980, where he trained in general neurology and clinical neurophysiology. He was then nominated as full-time senior neurologist in 1987 in the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, and received his post-graduate degree (Habilitation à diriger des Recherches) from University Paris VI in 1991. He is currently coordinator, together with Dr Eymard, of the National Referral Center for rare neuromuscular diseases, that was built up in the Department of Neurology of University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière in 2004. Dr Léger's clinical and research interests are in the field of peripheral neuropathy and in particular chronic immune-mediated neuropathy. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and contributed more than 30 chapters to books on neurology, mainly in the field of diagnostic features and therapeutic trials in vasculitic neuropathy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, multifocal motor neuropathy and paraproteinaemic neuropathies. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Revue Neurologique for 8 years and as member of the Editorial Board of Brain for 5 years, and is currently member of the Board of the European Journal of Neurology and Associate Editor of the Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System. Dr Léger is currently President of the Société Française de Neurologie, in which he served as Secretary General for 8 years. He serves as officer of the Management Committee of the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) and as chairman of the Training and Education Committee of the EFNS. He is also member of the Board of the Peripheral Nerve Society and will organize its biennal meeting in Saint-Malo, France, in July 2013. He is Corresponding Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, and Corresponding Member of the American Neurological Association. He was elected as Corresponding Member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine, France, in 2009. Tom RandoTom RandoThomas Rando is Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, USA. He received his A.B. degree in biochemistry from Harvard College and he received his MD and PhD (cell and developmental biology) degrees from Harvard University, USA. He completed his clinical training in neurology at the University of California San Francisco, USA, and he completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at Stanford University where he was a Howard Hughes Physician Postdoctoral Scholar. Dr Rando's laboratory has been focused on the role of tissue-specific stem cells in muscle homeostasis and repair, as well as on the mechanisms by which those cells fail to sustain muscle either in the setting of muscular dystrophies, or during the process of age-related muscle atrophy (sarcopenia). Groundbreaking work from his laboratory showed that the age-related decline in stem cell function is due primarily to influences of the aged environmental, rather than to intrinsic aging of stem cells themselves. In addition, his laboratory focuses on the pathogenesis and treatment of the muscular dystrophies, with particular emphasis on cell and gene therapy. Dr Rando is Chief of Neurology at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, USA, where he is Director of the Rehabilitation Research & Development Center of Excellence whose focus is the emerging field of regenerative medicine, particularly in neuromuscular disorders. He is also Director of the Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr Rando has received numerous awards and has been recognized by academic and professional societies for his work. He is a past recipient of a Junior Faculty Research Award from the American Academy of Neurology, and in 2007 he was honored to deliver the F.L. McNaughton Lecture at the Montreal Neurological Institute. He received a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in Aging from the American Federation for Aging Research, an Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award, and a “Breakthroughs in Gerontology” (BIG) Award from the American Federation for Aging Research. In 2005 he received an NIH Director's Pioneer Award for his work at the interface between stem cell biology and the biology of aging.