Perspective:

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) is proud to welcome the new Editor-in-Chief, Valentin Fuster, MD, Ph.D. He will be taking over the reins of the Journal effective with the July 8 issue. He will serve a 5-year term beginning July 2014, replacing Anthony DeMaria, MD, who has served as the editor-in-chief of JACC since 2002. Dr. Fuster is the director of Mount Sinai Heart and physician-in-chief at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He also serves as the director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health at Mount Sinai. Dr. Fuster has received the ACC’s Distinguished Scientist Award and Distinguished Teacher Award, and in 2012 was named a “Legend of Cardiovascular Medicine” at the ACC’s 61st Annual Scientific Session. Dr. Fuster brings experience as both an author and editor to his position with JACC, including serving as editor-in-chief of Nature Reviews Cardiology in April 2009.

As Editor-in-Chief of JACC, Dr. Fuster is instituting new features to make the content more readable and accessible. All original research papers and review papers will be accompanied by a Central Illustration, which will seek to summarize the main message of the manuscript in a single medical illustration or schematic to enable readers to understand immediately the crux of the paper’s message. Confronted with a large amount of information at a rapidly evolving pace, the cardiovascular generalist, specialist, or investigator seeks a simple door of entry into new research; what better way than the concluding final lines of the abstract with an illustration that summarizes its content. To this end, every original research paper also will be accompanied by a Perspective summary outlining the core clinical competencies and translational outlook that were produced as a result of the research. Finally, Dr. Fuster is recording audio summaries for each original investigation to quickly summarize the findings in 3-4 minutes, which can be accessed through QR codes on the front of the JACC cover, or in its pages. Look for many other exciting changes for JACC in the coming months.

‘Some time ago, I had the privilege of working alongside Dr. Fuster in a busy academic cardiac unit over several years. I can say without question that he is the most dynamic academic cardiologist that I have ever seen. His broad and deep perspectives on science, from genes to populations, and on care, from sophisticated high tech critical care to global health challenges throughout the world, allow him a reach of influence in world cardiovascular science, education, and care which is unique. Having this man lead the world’s number one cardiovascular journal is a brilliant choice by the ACC, and we will all be the beneficiaries. Get ready for a new and exciting JACC!’