Currently the Jack M. Gill Chair and professor of the department of internal medicine at the University of Kentucky and a member of the interventional cardiology faculty at the Gill Heart Institute in Lexington, KY, Moliterno became involved with the College while working at the Cleveland Clinic with past ACC president Steven E. Nissen, MD, MACC, who nominated him to an education committee. Since then, he has been an active member of the ACC, serving as a member of the Board of Governors, the Task Force on Clinical Expert Consensus Documents and the Interventional Section Leadership Council.

Moliterno has also served as a member of the publications committee, the editor-in-chief for CathSAP 3 and CathSAP 4 and an editorial board member for JACC. He has been involved with numerous investigational studies in cardiovascular medicine over the last two decades, with his primary research interest being acute coronary syndromes. When JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions first launched, King asked him to be an associate editor, a role he says he has enjoyed for many years.

Going forward, Moliterno says he has many plans for the Journal. “The associate editors and I need to capitalize on the terrific trajectory with which Dr. King launched and accelerated the journal over the past decade,” he says. “These plans will include finding and fostering the next generation of truly great authors, reviewers and editorial board members. The practice of health care delivery around the globe continues to be challenging and time-consumptive. So, too, the time protected for research and academic pursuits continues to be challenged. As such, among our goals will be to find ways to help authors and reviewers be more efficient and empowered as they contribute and interact with the Journal.”

With these goals, one might wonder how Moliterno might make time for himself, but he plans to keep up with his favorite activity – riding his bicycle, which he rides just about anywhere and anytime he can. “During the summer and fall, I try to do one or two week-long bike rides somewhere in the U.S., covering several hundred miles, and sometimes carrying all needed gear and supplies including a tent, sleeping bag, food and cooking gear,” he says. “This is going to make for some interesting editorial board conference calls!”

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Growing up in India, Chandrashekhar says there were two assumed career paths: medicine or engineering. “The thought of helping someone in distress rather than designing software or airplanes made medicine more appealing to me,” he says. Choosing imaging as a specialty came more naturally. “After all, nearly everything we do is related to seeing pathology and is some sort of imaging,” he explains. “All doctors are, thus, fundamentally imagers plus something else. Cardiology is even more dependent on seeing things in 2-D and 3-D, and its expansive technology allows striking visualization of disease pathophysiology. With such rich information, imaging was a natural fit for me.”

The first time Chandrashekhar traveled to the U.S. was to present at ACC’s Annual Scientific Session, an experience which he says played a large part in him moving to the U.S. permanently. He now serves as a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota.

Chandrashekhar recently completed his term as chair of the Cardiology Merit Review study section of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and is on the Scientific and Policy Advisory Committee of the World Heart Federation. He directs the cardiovascular imaging laboratory at the VA Medical Center, Minneapolis with clinical interests in multiple imaging modalities. He has been a physician investigator for over 20 years funded by federal agencies and other grant agencies. He continues to be an active member of multiple grant review committees, including the National Institutes of Health and the VA. He was also an author of the 2015 multimodality imaging guidelines in COCATS 4 and has published extensively in leading medical journals.

The new editor-in-chief of JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging has been involved with the Journal since day one, having helped plan and edit the first issue. He served as the deputy editor and then as the executive editor of the Journal, which he calls a very rewarding experience.

“JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging has established itself as one of the premier cardiovascular journals in the world,” Chandrashekhar says. “Dr. Narula’s astute leadership has positioned the journal as the ‘go to’ resource in cardiovascular imaging and I look forward to continuing the outstanding work of Dr. Narula and his staff in highlighting the most important research in the field of cardiovascular imaging.”

Chandrashekhar plans to continue to focus on high-quality science and its scientific impact. He says that the Journal has set the benchmark for quality imaging science in its first decade and should, in its next decade, focus on the big questions and evidence-based imaging.

“This is an exciting time to be an editor, but there are a lot of unknowns,” Chandrashekhar says. “New paradigms are shaking up traditions, the publishing cycle is becoming very rapid, and readers have shorter attention spans. We plan to anticipate and adapt nicely to these changes. You will see a very lively journal with something for nearly everyone.” He adds that the Journal will be rich in multimedia and mobile friendly. “Above all, I strongly believe that each issue should bring a smile to the face as well as satiate the mind, teaching something of consequence to each and every one of our readers,” he says.

When he has the time, Chandrashekhar enjoys reading both fiction and non-fiction books and stays active by running. He also loves to travel with his family, making a point to see a new place or visit a new culture every year.

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