Perspectives in Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapies

Abstract

I am pleased to welcome the readers of Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy as new Editor-in-Chief. It is a challenge to follow in Professor Walter Sibrowski's footsteps as his successor in this position. Under his aegis Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy was successfully established as one of the leading journals in the field of transfusion medicine not only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It also gained considerable international reputation which is reflected by the continuous increase of the impact factor (2012: 1.59) over the last years. For these impressive achievements, Professor Sibrowski certainly deserves high recognition. As new Editor-in-Chief, I would like to continue this success story and to further improve the high quality standard of the journal. The journal's scope still will cover the whole spectrum of transfusion medicine, including immunohematology, immunogenetics, therapeutic apheresis, blood and stem cell donation and manufacturing, transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases, blood safety and clinical aspects of hemotherapy and hemostaseology, while at the same time we aim to deal with the developments of novel therapies. I feel it is important to describe and discuss the challenges and efforts accompanying the recent developments in transfusion medicine and cellular therapies and to show how this advance of knowledge is translated into clinical practice. Until today, health care systems rather treat symptoms than eliminate the underlying causes of a disease, which are often characterized by an interplay of various factors. In this regard, cellular therapies and regenerative medicine, in particular, represent novel therapeutic approaches in the attempt to reverse disease progression and to cure patients in the long term. The latest advances in these fields raise hope for many patients. Specialists in transfusion medicine are encouraged to get more involved to help improving the practice and standardization of cellular therapies such as the so-called advanced therapeutical medicinal products (ATMP) by their expertise. This might shorten the time to clinical applicability of such biological inventions thus optimizing patient and donor care and safety in the future. With this in mind, it is of strategic priority to not only expand the spectrum of authors but also to extend our readership. We aim to sensitize adjacent medical disciplines to the substantial progress in the fields of blood management and solid organ and stem cell transplantation as well as to the rapid developments in disciplines like somatic cell therapy, gene therapy, and tissue engineering. As the complexity in these fields is continuously growing, the scope of our journal also has to evolve in order to develop Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy into a leading and competitive European journal with special emphasis on bench-to-bedside research. Last but not least, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all Associate Editors, to the Editorial Board, and to Karger Publishers. Without their engagement the development of Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy would not be the same story of success. This work needs true team players, and I am proud to be part of this team and will do my best as new Editor-in-Chief to achieve the above mentioned goals.