Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Rheumatology was launched in 1989. 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 Rheumatology is divided into 15 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 Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Cees G.M. KallenbergCees G.M. KallenbergCees G.M. Kallenberg, MD, graduated from the Medical School of the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. He was registered as an internist in 1980 and successfully completed his PhD studies on “Raynaud's Phenomenon and Systemic Autoimmune Disease” in 1982 at the University Medical Center, Groningen, The Netherlands. He was appointed as Associate Professor in Internal Medicine - Clinical Immunology in 1985 and as full professor in 1993. He has chaired the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the Groningen University, The Netherlands, until May 1, 2011. His main research is on systemic autoimmune diseases, in particular ANCA-associated vasculitides, systemic lupus erythematosus, and sjögren's syndrome. He has written more than 500 articles on these subjects in international peer-reviewed journals. He is an invited speaker on his research topics at all major international meetings, and is an editorial board member of several journals in clinical immunology, nephrology and rheumatology. Ronald F. van VollenhovenRonald F. van VollenhovenProfessor Ronald F. van Vollenhoven is chief of the Unit for Clinical Therapy Research, Inflammatory Diseases (ClinTRID) at the Karolinska Institute, and of the Clinical Trials Unit Rheumatology at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. He received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. After graduating in 1984 he pursued immunology research at Cornell Medical College, New York, USA, followed by residency (specialty training) in internal medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA, and a fellowship in rheumatology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, USA, following which he received an American Board of Internal Medicine certification in both internal medicine and rheumatology. From 1993 to 1998 Dr van Vollenhoven held a faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University, USA, and from 1995 he was the Medical Services Chief and Fellowship Director in that division. In 1998 Dr van Vollenhoven moved to Stockholm, Sweden, where he worked as a Senior Physician and Chief of the Clinical Trials Unit in the Department of Rheumatology at the Karolinska University Hospital and Associate Professor of Rheumatology; and in 2010, he was appointed in his current position at the Karolinska Institute. Dr van Vollenhoven's research interests focus around the development and systematic evaluation of biological and immunomodulatory treatments for the rheumatic diseases. With his co-workers, he has established the Stockholm registry for biological therapies (the STURE database) for this purpose, which has supported research projects relating to clinical efficacy, pharmacology, outcomes and pharmacoeconomics. He has been principal investigator in many clinical trials of novel therapies in rheumatic diseases and has contributed to a number of important investigator-initiated trials including the recently published SWEFOT trial. He has published over 150 original papers, book chapters and reviews, and is editor of the textbook Targeted Treatment of the Rheumatic Diseases. In 2004, Dr van Vollenhoven was awarded the Scandinavian Research Foundation Prize for excellence in clinical research in rheumatology. He is a member of several editorial boards and the EULAR scientific programme committee, chair of the Swedish health economics working group HeraS, and co-founder of the IRBIS registry for biologics in SLE and of the NORD-STAR collaboration for Nordic trials in the rheumatic diseases.