Abstract
In 2001, Dr. Maronpot took on the ambitious dual roles of STP President and Journal Editor. Bob approached these responsibilities with an incredible dedication and drive that is typical of everything he does. Not only was he able to juggle these two important duties, but under his leadership significant strides and improvements were seen within the society and the journal.
During his first year as editor, some important changes were made including the reorganization of the editorial board and eliminating journal sections. In addition, Bob established a permanent editorial office to ensure continuity during transitional times. Along with establishing standard operating procedures for the journal and the editorial board, he broadened the editorial board by adding MD toxicologic pathologists, PhD. toxicologists, and toxicologic pathologists early in their career but with up to date knowledge. He appointed three associate editors, a senior editor, a photography director and an art director enabling the editor to focus on strategic planning for the journal. Dr. Maronpot was able to negotiate important benefits for the society with our new publisher, Taylor and Francis, to ensure that STP expectations were met.
Over the last three years, the stature of the journal has grown to be one of prominence among the international community of toxicologists and pathologists. The quality of the published papers has risen and includes cutting-edge science, particularly in the areas of the new genomic and proteomic technologies. The number of manuscript submissions has increased under this leadership, with a significant increase in international papers. While editor, Dr. Maronpot published several important invited reviews including: “Cystic degeneration/spongiosis hepatis in rats.” ToxPathol 30: 216–227; “A contemporary overview of chronic progressive nephropathy in the laboratory rat, and its significance for human risk assessment.” ToxPathol 32: 171–180; “Carcinogenic and systemic health effects associate with arsenic exposure—a critical review.” ToxPathol 31: 575–588; and “Toxicoproteomics: proteomics applied to toxicology and pathology.” ToxPathol 32: 619–642. As well as reports from important symposia like The NTP Satellite Symposia on Kidney and Urinary Bladder, the Workshop on Hepatic Preneoplasia from the German Cancer Research Center and New York Medical College’s meeting on Chemical Safety Assessment: Contributions of Toxicological Pathology and Mechanistic Investigations. Dr. Maronpot successfully initiated a process whereby society sponsors underwrote the annual meeting supplements and special issues.
Under Dr. Maronpot’s leadership, the quality of the figures and photomicrographs has increased many fold. Dr. Maronpot takes great care and shows remarkable patience not only in evaluating every photograph, but also in helping to educate authors on ways to improve the quality of their submitted figures. He worked with the publisher and printer to ensure processes were in place to produce high quality artwork. Most importantly for the authors, Dr. Maronpot was able to find ways to greatly reduce the cost to publish color art. In addition, he created a new masthead with dramatic cover art giving the journal a new and eye-catching look.
Dr. Maronpot spearheaded the development of the journals exciting new online submission and review process including Efirst, online galley reviews, online access to manuscripts, pdf files of final papers for authors, and downloadable microarray databases from published manuscripts. One of Dr. Maronpot’s most lasting legacies is the creation of a DVD with all of the articles from 25 years of the journal, in a searchable format. This was an enormous undertaking, which he did out of his personal dedication to STP and the journal. The DVD should be available to all STP members in the near future.
Working with him personally, one learns quickly that, once the objectives are defined, there could be no better committed “driving force” to provide the impetus to meet those common goals than Dr. Maronpot. He will do whatever is required to identify potential obstacles and assist in focusing the energy so that the mission will be accomplished with punctuality and according to the highest standards. Dr. Maronpot possesses a keen understanding of ways to combine professional teams of excellent people whom he motivates to achieve excellence. While the missions are sometimes demanding, one can always trust that a highly reliable individual is cooperating with the team to achieve those high-standard goals. We sincerely thank him for his dedication, leadership and wisdom. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with Dr. Maronpot and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.