From medical student to Editor: A note of thanks

Abstract

I first encountered CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians as a medical student. Back then, the American Cancer Society (ACS) printed hundreds of thousands of copies that were mailed (without any charge) to practicing physicians and dropped off by ACS volunteers at medical schools, with the goals of educating students about cancer and inspiring some of us to pursue careers in cancer-related specialties. I recall appreciating that the Society deemed medical students worthy of their attention. After carrying each issue in the pocket of my short white medical student coat for a few days (back when the journal was printed in a small, digest-sized format), I realized that I was unlikely to get beyond the first few pages anytime soon, so I carefully separated the journal pages and filed the articles in folders labeled by topic, wishing that someday I would be able to read them. (Note—foreshadowing alert).

After 2 decades of pathology residency, fellowship, academic pathology practice, and laboratory-based cancer research, this wish came true. A series of fortunate events led me to a staff position at the ACS national office, where one of my roles was reading CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Every article. At least twice. For more than 20 years.

The first message of this editorial is my retirement from the position of Editor. This role has been tremendously fulfilling and enjoyable, but it's time for some new ideas from someone else. By the time you read this I will be almost completely retired from my work with the ACS and looking forward to some other pursuits that, until recently, I haven't had time for.

More importantly, this editorial also gives me an opportunity for some reflection about this journal, to thank the people who are responsible for its success, and to introduce the incoming editor, Don Dizon, MD. It would be difficult to name all the distinguished contributors to CA during my tenure as Editor, so I apologize for any truncations in the lists below and for any omissions resulting from lapses in my memory. There are several individuals who have contributed to CA in more than one capacity, and many of them are included below on only one list (the one for which their role seems most significant or most memorable to me). I appreciate them all and extend my utmost gratitude for their expertise and time.

CA reaches a heterogeneous audience of clinical and public health professionals to provide information relevant to the entire cancer continuum, from prevention through survivorship and end-of-life care. Content includes educational review articles; ACS guidelines for cancer prevention and early detection; ACS summaries of the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, risk factors, and screening prevalence; virtual tumor board discussions; and brief news stories that offer perspectives on recent research. CA has always been free to access and remains free online without subscription.

Published since 1950 by the ACS, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians is one of the oldest peer-reviewed journals in oncology and retains the highest impact factor of all journals ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information (now, Clarivate Analytics). Much has changed since that first issue. Younger readers may be shocked to learn that this journal's name CA comes from the term that was used long ago in discussions among clinicians to avoid patients overhearing the word cancer, in the belief that diagnostic disclosure would have a negative impact on the patient's quality of life. In some superficial ways, CA has also changed substantially since my early years as Editor, when manuscripts were submitted via postal mail (not even e-mail) with triplicate copies of the text and photographic prints of graphs and figures to be forwarded to reviewers (also via postal mail). The first online issue of CA was in 2007, and, since 2020, publication has been online only. Nonetheless, the essence of CA has remained remarkably consistent—to provide educational content that advances the ACS goals of reducing cancer incidence and mortality rates and improving quality of life for cancer survivors.

The main activity of most journal editors is prioritizing a large number of unsolicited research reports to select a relatively small proportion that will be accepted for publication. In contrast, most CA review articles begin at a meeting of our Associate Editors and Editorial Board members. These experts in various aspects of cancer care and research recommend and discuss topics that they deem most likely to advance the ACS mission and to be relevant to our readers' interests. The success of this journal depends to a great degree on the outstanding expertise, insight, and dedication of our Associate Editors and Editorial Board. It has been an honor to work with these all-stars of the cancer world. I sincerely appreciate Durado Brooks, MD, MPH; Keith Delman, MD; and Charles R. Thomas, Jr., MD, who served the journal as Associate Editors during my term as Editor, and everyone who served on our Editorial Board between 2000 and 2023, including the following list of current Editorial Board members: Gini Fleming, MD; Frederick Greene, MD; Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD; Cathy Meade, PhD, RN; Kevin Oeffinger, MD; Alpa Patel, PhD; Nancy Perrier, MD; Charles R. Thomas, Jr., MD; and Andrew Vickers, PhD.

If you look at the CA masthead webpage, you will see an Editor and an Editor-in-Chief. The latter, historically, has generally been the ACS Chief Medical/Scientific Officer (or a similar high-ranking executive position). These leaders are usually too busy with their myriad responsibilities to get involved with decisions regarding most individual articles. However, all Editors-in-Chief during my tenure—Harmon Eyre, MD; Otis W. Brawley, MD; and Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS—made vital contributions to the journal's direction and strategy and, importantly, provided wise advice regarding some challenging editorial situations that I have encountered over the years.

My next thank you goes to the authors of CA articles. Writing is much more difficult than editing, and the depth and breadth of CA review articles is not easily or quickly accomplished. Although there are far too many authors of CA reviews for me to thank individually, I sincerely appreciate them taking time from their busy schedules of patient care, research, teaching, and/or administrative work to contribute one or more articles to CA. Moreover, it is my impression that, because time spent writing review articles usually does not provide as much career advancement per hour of effort as research articles do, their willingness to undertake this work reflects genuine dedication to the continuing education of our audience, and I applaud our authors for their commitment and contribution.

There are two categories of CA articles that make an especially prominent contribution to CA's identity. The first is the cancer statistics series of articles. Countless scientists have worked on these, but I want to highlight the ACS staff leaders who have directed this endeavor during my editorial tenure: Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD (again); Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH; Elizabeth Ward, PhD; and Michael Thun, MD, MS. Cancer prevention and screening guidelines are the other special category of CA articles. Again, there are far too many staff and volunteer co-authors for me to list comprehensively, but I want to give special thanks to ACS staff who have led guideline teams during my years as Editor: Durado Brooks, MD, MPH (again); Colleen Doyle, MS, RD; Debbie Saslow, PhD; and Robert Smith, PhD.

Anyone who has worked in journal editing knows how important managing editors are, and I appreciate the excellence of the outstanding professionals in that role during my tenure as Editor. I especially want to individually thank the current managing editor, Ms. Jin Kim and her immediate predecessor, Ms. Carissa Gilman. Their competence, efficiency, judgment, and organization are unrivaled. I cannot begin to explain how much they helped me and how much I enjoyed working with them. One step higher on the organizational chart, the ACS journal and/or publishing department leaders have also had a tremendously positive impact on CA. Among other contributions, they have the difficult task of reconciling editors' dreams (or delusions) with their organization's business realities. Special thanks to Ms. Esmeralda Galán Buchanan and, before her, Ms. Diane Scott-Lichter and Ms. Emily Pualwan.

Our publishers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2008 to present), and Lippincott (2000–2010), have been important partners in distributing our content to our audience, and their ongoing innovation has made our online content delivery more effective and efficient.

Finally, this journal would be meaningless without you, our readers. Thank you for your page views and citations that justify our existence. More importantly, thank you for using the information in CA articles to inform your clinical care and your research.

Editing CA is not a full-time job. Although this paragraph is a little tangential to the theme of this editorial, I want to allocate a few words to thanking the leaders, mentors, and colleagues who made the remaining percentages of my years with ACS so fulfilling and satisfying. From the ACS department that provides patient information and services, special thanks to Mr. Chuck Westbrook and Ms. Terry Music, and to all of my colleagues who led, guided, and contributed to writing, editing, and distributing the Society's information about all aspects of cancer to patients, their families and friends, and the general public. From the ACS research department, a very sincere thank you to all of my colleagues, and especially to Elizabeth Ward, PhD (again), Susan Gapstur, PhD, and Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD (again), for welcoming me into their research teams, and to Eric Jacobs, PhD, and Stacey Fedewa, MPH, PhD, my most frequent colleagues and mentors in analytic epidemiology and surveillance research, respectively.

And finally, as we approach the end of this editorial and the end of my term as CA Editor, I am delighted to introduce the incoming Editor, Don Dizon, MD. Dr. Dizon is a highly respected oncologist who specializes in women's cancers and holds leadership positions at Lifespan Cancer Institute and the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University. In addition to his impressive clinical and research background, Dr. Dizon comes to this position with significant editorial expertise, including a 10-year term as Editor-in-Chief of the American Society of Clinical Oncology education book, a peer-reviewed, PubMed-indexed publication. He has the expertise, creativity, and vision that make him the excellent selection as CA's newest Editor. I am certain of CA's future success under Dr. Dizon's leadership alongside the current Editor-in-Chief, Arif Kamal, MD, and look forward to reading future articles online (although maybe not twice) as a reader instead of an Editor.

The author made no disclosures.