Abstract
Dr. Ken Latimer, who ushered in the era of multiple JVDI editors in 2007, will be retiring from his position at the end of May 2012. With his broad expertise in pathology and infectious diseases, and long-standing editing and publishing experience, Ken has worked tirelessly to bring out the very best in every manuscript published in JVDI. His period of service may go down in the annals of the Journal as the period of fastest growth, with the number of submitted manuscripts soaring from 268 in 2007 to 487 in 2010. In spite of this exponential growth, Ken’s outstanding work and efficiency helped ensure that the Journal’s quality continued to improve, with the impact factor rising from just under 1 in 2007 to over 1.5 in 2009. Readers, please join us in thanking Ken for his exceptional service to the AAVLD, and wishing him farewell from the editorial board of JVDI and good luck in his other endeavors.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Francisco (Paco) Uzal to the editorial team. Dr. Uzal is currently a professor of veterinary diagnostic pathology at the San Bernardino Branch of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, UC Davis. He is an internationally renowned expert on clostridial diseases, with almost 30 years of diagnostic pathology experience. We believe Dr. Uzal, with his strong background in diagnostic pathology and infectious diseases, is a perfect fit for the position being vacated by Dr. Ken Latimer. His participation will maintain the strength of our editorial team as we continue to manage growth in manuscript submissions, while continuously improving the Journal’s quality. Dr. Uzal will complement the expertise of Drs. Blackall and Saliki. He will be responsible for editing most pathology manuscripts submitted to JVDI. We warmly welcome Dr. Uzal to JVDI’s editorial team and thank him for agreeing to serve the AAVLD in this new capacity.