Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases was launched in 1988. 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 infectious diseases is divided into 11 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 Roderick James HayRoderick James HayProfessor Hay was born in Cobham, Surrey, he grew up in Devon and now lives in Shipton under Wychwood, Oxfordshire. He was educated at Oxford University, UK and Guys Hospital Medical School, London, UK and has been a Lecturer/Senior Registrar at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK and at the St. Johns Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, London, UK. He has also been a Research Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA. Professor Hay is currently Chairman of the International Foundation of Dermatology, London, Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Consultant Dermatologist in Infectious Skin Disease at Kings College Hospital, London, UK. He is a former Head of the School of Medicine and Dentistry and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland and emeritus Professor of Dermatology. Professor Hay was President of the British Association of Dermatologists 2001–2002, the British Society for Medical Mycology 1997–2002, and the European Confederation of Medical Mycology 1998–2002. He serves on a number of boards including: the Eastern Health and Social Services Board and the International Committee of Dermatology; Professor Hay has authored over 500 scientific papers, books and reports on medical mycology and tropical dermatology, focusing on antifungal chemotherapy, cellular immunology and epidemiology. His present areas of research include studies of the virulence factors of pathogenic fungi and molecular diagnosis as well as health systems research in tropical skin disease. Michael S. NiedermanMichael S. NiedermanMichael Niederman is Professor and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA, and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York, USA. He obtained his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine, USA, and then completed his training in internal medicine at Northwestern University School of Medicine, USA, before undertaking a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine, USA. His interests lie in respiratory tract infections, and include mechanisms of airway colonization, the management of community- and hospital-acquired pneumonia, the role of guidelines for pneumonia, and the impact of antibiotic resistance on the management and outcomes of respiratory tract infections. He has published over 350 peer reviewed or review articles, and has lectured widely, both nationally and internationally. Dr Niederman served as co-chairman of the committees that created the American Thoracic Society 1993 and 2001 guidelines for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and the 1996 and 2005 committees that wrote guidelines for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia. He was a member of the ATS/IDSA committee that published guidelines for community-acquried pneumonia in 2007. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Pulmonary Medicine, and has served on the editorial boards of The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Chest.