Quality of Care Will Be a "Sweet Spot" for JAMA Cardiology Says New Editor-in-Chief.

Abstract

WhenRobert O. Bonow, MD, professor of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, joined the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in 1976 as a clinical associate shortly after completing his residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he assumed he would be there for only a few years. But the intrigue of cardiovascular research and encouragement from his mentors kept him at the institute for 16years,whereheservedas asenior investigatoranddeputychiefof cardiology, delving deeply into the mechanismsof and therapies forhypertrophic cardiomyopathy and valvular disease. Now director of the Feinberg Center for Cardiovascular Innovation, his years of research, teaching, and clinical practice have prepared him for his new role as editor in chief of JAMA Cardiology. The journal, which published its inaugural edition on February 24, addresses a broad spectrum of subjects in cardiovascular medicine (jamacardiology.com). Bonow, who moved to the Feinberg School of Medicine in 1992 where he has served as chief of the cardiology division from 1992 to 2011, believes one of themost rewarding aspects of his work has been the opportunity to pay forward the support he received at National Institutes of Health by, in turn, mentoring young researchers. Bonow has also been active in the AmericanHeartAssociation,servingaspresident from2002 to 2003. He has published more than500articles and 100book chapters, including editing the landmark Braunwald’s Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. In a recent interview, Bonowdiscussed his neweditorial endeavor andwhat the future holds for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The following is an edited version of the interview. JAMA: What is your editorial vision for JAMA Cardiology? DR BONOW: We have the opportunity to become one of the top scientific journals in cardiovascular disease.Ourmissionandour goal are to become one of the go-to journals for the best science [and] to attract papers from the best investigators across the spectrum of cardiovascular disease. We do have a couple of specific interests, but we want to be a journal that is sought after and read by the cardiovascular community, primarily a clinical community, that's involved in patient care and patient-based research. We want to cover areas of broad interest— heart failure, coronary arterydisease, acute and chronic coronary interventions, valvular heart disease, adult congenital heart disease, and imaging of the heart. We have a heavy interest in cardiovascular epidemiology and in thequality of and deliveryof care. [Wealsohavean interest in] health services research andmaybe, as the field evolves, the genetics of cardiovascular disease and how that plays out into personalized care,where I thinkwehavea long way to go.