Continuity and Connection

Welcome to the 15th volume year of the Residents’ Journal (RJ)! Since its first publication in October 2006, the RJ has provided a forum for medical students, residents, and fellows to share the triumphs, travails, and acquired wisdom of psychiatric training. It has fostered camaraderie and connection across programs and educational stages. Since the Journal’s inception, authors, editors, and readers have surely bettered their writing, teaching, and doctoring skills. RJ occupies a unique niche in the universe of global medical literature, and I am honored to lead RJ in the coming year.

Owing to the dedication and hard work of the 2018–2019 board, RJ experienced growth in readership, social media attention, and geographic reach. We are now in regular contact with psychiatry training programs across the United States and Canada (and are making inroads to medical school psychiatry clerkship directors). We have an active and diverse social media presence. Submission volume is high, as is interest in guest-edited theme sections. Podcasts are now an established and highly anticipated feature of RJ. For all this, I thank the 11 members of last year’s board and the three outside reviewers.

I especially thank Dr. Oliver Glass, the previous Editor-in-Chief, who oversaw the expansion of the editorial board and the growth initiatives of last year. He served RJ for 3 years with devotion and professionalism. I am indebted to the trust he placed in appointing me Senior Deputy Editor. His wisdom, mentorship, and friendship are so very meaningful, and I aspire to carry RJ onward through another successful year.

I look forward with excitement to working with the incoming—and outstanding—2019–2020 editorial board and our new outside reviewers. As has long been the case, the number of applications exceeded board spots. This year’s talented crew, including Senior Deputy Editor Dr. Matthew Edwards, will surely rise to the responsibility entrusted to them.

With substantive theme ideas (including the section in this issue devoted to neuropsychiatry), novel social media and podcasting initiatives, and the continued impactful writing that has been the hallmark of the Residents’ Journal, there is much to anticipate in the coming academic year. Our new publication schedule promises four thick, high-quality issues annually for readers to enjoy.

Owing to my own personal and professional path, I spend much time thinking and reading about humanism in health care and education. To quote one of the most acclaimed physician-writers in the world, "Isolation is deadly, connection heals" (1). I invest time in RJ because I see it as a means of creating and modeling meaningful, supportive, and healing connections—a "virtual" humanistic learning milieu—among future generations of physicians. In turn, they are more ready to encounter each other and patients, amidst distress and suffering, with compassion and love. May our written and spoken words, as physicians and as people, bring connection and healing.

Please, be in touch.