Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care was launched in 2007. 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 fields of supportive and palliative care are divided into 12 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. EDITORS Sam H. AhmedzaiSam H. AhmedzaiEmeritus Professor Sam H. Ahmedzai was Chair and Head of the Academic Unit of Supportive Care at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield, UK, where he worked from 1994. He was also Consultant Physician in Palliative Medicine at Sheffield hospitals for one of the UK's leading multi-disciplinary supportive and palliative care teams. Dr Ahmedzai graduated from the Universities of St Andrews in Scotland, UK and Manchester, UK. His medical training was in oncology and respiratory medicine. His research interests are in pain control, biology and control of symptoms, and the measurement of quality of life and holistic needs. He initiated the Science Committee for the Association for Palliative Medicine (UK) and was past Chair of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer's groups on quality of life and on pain and symptom control. The Sheffield Academic Unit has also led developments in public and patient involvement in cancer research. Since ‘retirement’ from clinical practice in 2015, he continues his academic and national work. As well as leading on UK and international clinical trials, he is chair of the National Cancer Research Institute's clinical study group on supportive and palliative care, National Specialty Lead for cancer research outside the acute hospital, and Clinical Lead for the Royal College of Physicians national audit of end of life care. He is Council Member of the British Pain Society. Sam led the development of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) 2015 guideline for care of the dying adult. Anthony H. DickensonAnthony H. DickensonAnthony H. Dickenson, BSc, PhD, FMedSci, is Professor of Neuropharmacology in the Department of Pharmacology at University College London, UK. He earned his PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, has held posts in Paris, California and Sweden, and was appointed to the Department of Pharmacology at University College in 1983. His research interests are pharmacology of the brain, including the mechanisms of pain and how pain can be controlled in both normal and pathophysiological conditions, and how to translate basic science to the patient. Professor Dickenson was a Member of the Council of the International Association for the Study of Pain for 6 years and is an Associate Editor for the journal Pain. He has authored more than 300 refereed publications and has made many media appearances. Professor Dickenson has given plenary lectures at the World Congress on Pain, the American Pain Society, the European Pain Congress, the Canadian Pain Society, the Belgium Pain Society, the Scandinavian Pain Society, the British Pain Society, the Thailand Pain Society, the Irish Pain Society, the Australian Pain Society, the New Zealand Pain Society and many other international and national meetings. He has also spoken at the Royal Institution, to GPs and to schools on pain. Edward ChowEdward ChowDr Edward Chow is a Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto, Canada and a Senior Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada. He is the Chair of the Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program and Bone Metastases Site Group at the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where he is a staff Radiation Oncologist. SECTION EDITORS James M. BeattieJames M. BeattieDr James M. Beattie is Consultant Cardiologist at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, UK, part of the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, a teaching hospital group linked to the University of Birmingham, UK. A graduate of the University of Glasgow, UK, he undertook initial cardiology training in the University Department at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He later pursued periods of research at the University of California at Davis, USA and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, USA. He returned to the UK as Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Birmingham and was appointed to his current position in 1990. He is engaged in general adult cardiology practice and he is Heart Failure Lead for the Trust. He holds fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, UK, and is a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology. He has had a long interest in palliative care for heart failure and for ten years was a National Clinical Lead with the NHS Heart Improvement Programme, through which he contributed to the development of this aspect of heart failure care across England. He co-authored the position statement on heart failure palliative care from the European Society of Cardiology. He is a former trustee of the National Council for Palliative Care and is a member of their long term conditions group. Janet EllisJanet EllisDr Janet Ellis completed her medical degree at Cambridge University, UK, and her psychiatry residency in the UK and University of Toronto, Canada. During her residency she was accepted into the Clinician Scientist Program at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, received the Association for Academic Psychiatry 2-Year Fellowship Award, and was granted a research fellowship in psychosocial oncology. She has been a staff Medical Psychiatrist for three years specializing in psychosocial oncology and trauma. She is the Cancer Care Ontario Regional Clinical Lead for Psychosocial Oncology and Director of Psychosocial Care in Trauma at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Canada. She is on the Sunnybrook Research Ethics Board. Her research interests are in psychosocial oncology and trauma. Elie Isenberg-GrzedaElie Isenberg-GrzedaDr Isenberg-Grzeda, MDCM, FRCPC received his undergraduate degree in Physiology (Honors) from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, in 2005. He attended medical school at McGill and graduated from the MDCM program, class of 2009. In 2013 he completed residency in adult psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, USA, where he was also Chief Resident. He went on to pursue a fellowship in Psychosomatic Medicine Psychiatry/Psycho-Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA. After graduating in 2014, he stayed on as the Chief Fellow for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences where he completed a second fellowship in administrative psychiatry. While he was a Resident he spearheaded the development of Montefiore/Einstein's first ever Residents-As-Teachers program in psychiatry, and for his efforts he was awarded the Leo M. Davidoff Society Award for Outstanding Teaching. Over the course of his training he was co-investigator on several IRB-approved research protocols and author of 4 peer-reviewed publications, and he has presented at conferences locally and internationally. For two of his publications he received the Nathaniel Wharton Annual Award for Best Paper by a Trainee given by the New York Society for Liaison Psychiatry—he remains the only individual to have been awarded the prize twice. He is currently a William Webb Fellow of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, an annual award given in recognition of leadership and career potential in psychosomatic medicine psychiatry. His research interests include the neuropsychiatric effects of thiamine-related encephalopathy and nonalcoholic Wernicke encephalopathy in cancer patients. He recently relocated to Toronto for a position as a Staff Psychiatrist at the Odette Cancer Center at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Canada. His other creative interests include writing music and playing guitar. He enjoys playing tennis and volleyball, and cycling.