Abstract
Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief
In this issue of Clinical OMICs there will be some changes you will notice right away—this editorial moving much closer to the front of the magazine is one—along with some others that might not be apparent to the eye, but will help us serve you, our readers, better.
The most notable change is the elimination of virtually all of our focused sections. That means our magazine will no longer carry the Diagnostics, Data & Informatics, In the Lab, or Precision Medicine sections. We will continue to cover these topics, but as the past year-and-a-half has shown, as we plan the content for each issue, the individual sections provided too rigid a framework. Often, we were in the unfortunate situation of needing to publish a story of lesser importance than others, simply because we needed a topical story for one of our sections.
So while it was a tidy structure and a way to communicate with our readers exactly the topics we intend to cover in our pages, it soon became apparent that it could also be an impediment to providing our readers with the best content available. This issue is the first step in a direction of providing more space for longer form journalism, more cutting edge science, technologies, and business models. It also provides more opportunity for us to publish content contributed by our readers—the scientists, physicians, and business leaders that are using omics to significantly influence and improve clinical care.
While we’re talking about content, it gives me great pleasure to introduce a new staff editor for Clinical OMICs, Julianna LeMieux, Ph.D. Julianna’s work first graced our pages in the July–August issue in the feature “Eyeing Epigenetic Markers,” where she dove into the science of examining the methylation patterns of cell-free DNA captured in the blood to help determine a cancer’s site of origin.
Julianna received her Ph.D. in molecular biology and microbiology from Tufts University School of Medicine and followed that with postdoc work at MIT while still living in Boston. Two years ago, after a change of location to the New York City area, and landing a tenure-track teaching position at a college just outside the city, Julianna switched gears to pursue what she calls “passion for science communication.”
This month, her work can be seen throughout Clinical OMICs, from her feature examining progress in Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease (page 12) to stories about CRISPR and the potential of some exosomes to help predict immunotherapy response (pages 34 and 37).
Julianna’s nose for the science, her ability to ask the right questions of the right people, and her writing talent are a most welcome addition and we look forward to her contributions in our pages.