Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation was launched in 1996. 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 organ transplantation is divided into 18 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 Warren C. Breidenbach, IIIWarren C. Breidenbach, IIIWarren C. Breidenbach, III, is both Chief of the Division of Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery and Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona, USA. He is the world leader of hand and composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) and led the team responsible for the world's first successful hand transplant in January, 1999. He has since performed more hand transplants than any other surgeon in the world. Based on his leadership and expertise in the field, he has trained a number of U.S. teams performing hand transplants and CTA. Dr Breidenbach's clinical interests are extremity surgery, peripheral nerve compression problems, repetitive stress disorders, and reconstructive trauma surgery. Whilst his research interests include; cutting edge immunosuppressant research which has tremendous potential for those in need of transplants, peripheral nerve outcomes, management of extremity pain syndrome, and animal models of tolerance induction in CTA. He obtained his MD from the University of Calgary, Canada, and subsequently received his postgraduate training in plastic surgery at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Dr Breidenbach then completed a one-year microsurgery fellowship with the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, USA, followed by one year as a Christine M. Kleinert Hand Fellow at the University of Louisville. Dr Breidenbach was appointed the first Hand Scholar with the Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand and Microsurgery for two years. His work on vascularized nerve grafts received the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinical Research Scholarship Award. Dr Breidenbach also received the Senior Award of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for his work in blood flow to nerves. He has served as President of the International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society and is Founding President of the American Society of Reconstructive Transplant. He also served on several committees of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and as Secretary of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve. Dr Breidenbach has received numerous awards and honors and has published more than 80 papers and publications. Linda S. SherLinda S. SherDr Sher is a Professor of Clinical Surgery and Director of Clinical Research in the Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Abdominal Organ Transplantation at Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC), USA. After completing her medical school education and surgical residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, USA, Dr Sher undertook her fellowship training in Liver and Kidney Transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. After completing her fellowship in 1988, Dr Sher was involved in the establishment of two liver transplant programs in Los Angeles prior to joining the USC program in 2001. Dr Sher has participated in and overseen over 50 research projects and is currently very active in the development of the clinical and basic science research components of the USC Abdominal Organ Transplantation Program. She has numerous publications on immunosuppression, chronic rejection, disease recurrence, infection, prophylaxis and hepatobiliary surgery. Dr Sher is one of the original editors of Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation and has endeavored over the years to provide the reader with an up to date overview of the entire field of organ transplantation. Edward K. GeisslerEdward K. GeisslerProfessor Edward K. Geissler is Head of Experimental Surgery, Department of Surgery, at the University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany, where he has held this post for the past 14 years. Professor Geissler's research interests include Transplantation Immunology research, with the aim of contributing to the development of novel tolerance induction strategies. He leads a recently established EU-funded 7th Framework Programme international consortium (The ONE Study) aimed at applying cellular therapy to renal transplant recipients as a means of reducing allograft rejection. In addition, he has developed a strong focus on the study of post-transplant malignancy. Here too, he is bridging the gap between his research laboratories and the clinic by conducting an ongoing multinational clinical trial (SiLVER Study) aimed at reducing hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence in liver transplant recipients. In 2008, he received the “Deutscher Krebspreis” for translational research in cancer from the German Cancer Society. He has recently been appointed as an Executive Editor of Transplantation, beginning in 2015.