Summary: When thinking back on my high school days, now 30 years since
graduation, I have mostly fond memories. The teachers were
stimulating, the courses challenging, and my classmates a strange,
but interestingly wild assortment one would expect of the late 60s
and early 70s. Walter, who looked like a small version of
B
When thinking back on my high school days, now 30 years since
graduation, I have mostly fond memories. The teachers were
stimulating, the courses challenging, and my classmates a strange,
but interestingly wild assortment one would expect of the late 60s
and early 70s. Walter, who looked like a small version of
Beethoven, and I edited the school newspaper, the Pikesville
Panther. It was great. We had an opportunity to express ourselves
to a large audience, to discuss in a fairly open forum the great
"issues" of the day, from school issues to the international scene,
to experiment with style and design, and to provoke (intentionally)
our readers' thoughts and emotions. As suited the free spirit of
the day, our teacher supervisor allowed a lot of latitude and stood
by us in the inevitable arguments with the administration over both
news content and opinion. Meeting deadlines was our major fear and
challenge.
When Dr. Keats approached me about becoming the new
Editor-in-Chief for Applied Radiology, my thoughts were a bit
mixed. Taking on more responsibility seemed contradictory to the
course I was hoping my life and career would be taking. I always
enjoyed AR, because it is a fast read with practical content and is
easily portable. I thought it had a great role to play in
refreshing and updating radiology education. Ultimately, I
reflected on my high school newspaper editing days and the joy of
creating such a product and optimizing that product to meet the
evolving needs of the readers. Never being short on an opinion, I
also decided that the editorial opportunities would be too good to
pass up.
Perhaps the most humbling part of this decision process had been
the idea of trying to step in after Dr. Theodore Keats, a man whom
I have viewed with awe and have held in high esteem in my progress
from residency to the present. His texts are an essential source in
any Radiology Department, especially the Emergency Department, and
are used routinely for the practical information they provide to
solve real-life, everyday problems. Dr. Keats is a man deserving of
his high stature in our profession, as evidenced by his innumerable
accomplishments. He is also a kind, feeling man, deeply thoughtful,
sincere, and knowledgeable about the world well beyond what his
professional credentials attest to. Just to maintain the practical
focus and quality of AR as under his direction would be a goal
worth achieving. I hope, based on this foundation, a few new
approaches can also be explored to enhance the value of AR to its
readers. The suggestion box is always open.
The times, they are a changin'...so what else is new? The pace
and volume of medical information exchange is staggering. Just
remembering what we think we already know is tough enough, much
less staying up with all that is new. It is a very large and
perhaps bitter pill to swallow. With the guidance of the Editorial
Board and staff of AR, and the support of the radiology community
at large, I hope Applied Radiology can make some of that
information more palatable and easier to digest.