Looking Forward
Welcome Residents’ Journal readers to the 2017–2018 academic year. Thank you for your continuing support of the Journal. I write to introduce our new Editorial Board and share a few thoughts.
I extend our appreciation to Katherine Pier, M.D., the 2016–2017 Editor-in-Chief, for her leadership, notably while she and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl. She now joins our esteemed group of Editors Emeriti who continue to provide guidance and mentorship to our board. I welcome back Oliver Glass, M.D., as our Senior Deputy Editor, and Michelle Liu, M.D., as our Culture Editor, and introduce Anna Kim, M.D., Helena Winston, M.D., Erin Fulchiero, M.D., and Shawn McNeil, M.D., as our new board members. This group comes from a diverse set of backgrounds and areas of expertise, from internal medicine, YouTube fame, editorial work with the Guggenheim, science journalism, and global health.
Together we hope to create relevant issues that educate, inspire, and question the status quo. We seek to address topics that provoke curiosity and combat stigma. We aim to normalize the challenges inherent to this marathon we call medical training. And most of all, we hope to help you, our readers and authors, learn to write as physicians and psychiatrists. Let this be your forum for professional exploration.
In an age of ever-evolving technology and science, it can be difficult to find a resource that is targeted to the level of the trainee. We are excited to introduce new projects to help you during your training. The first will be a column titled “Medicine for the Psychiatrist,” discussing the management of medical and neurologic issues commonly encountered in our population. We will also introduce a regular podcast including summaries of our articles, as well as interviews of psychiatrists from various subspecialties discussing career development and mentorship (which will also be available in the online PDF version). Last, we will be expanding our social media presence to help you prepare for board exams, and provide an additional forum for networking, discussion, and further contribution. Notably, we will be featuring artwork on our Instagram page and welcome your submissions.
In an age when sample size often dictates academic value, we can forget that medicine started with the individual patient and doctor. A novel observation leads to a case report, a case series leads to prospective studies, then randomized controlled trials. We are where we are because curious individuals asked “why?” and “how?” Ask these questions regularly. Observe what keeps you excited or puzzled after long days. That is where to begin. You are part of the next era of psychiatry. We hope you’ll join us on that journey.
