This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marbán, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marbán, E.

(Circulation Research. 1999;85:657.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Steve Vatner's Editorship of Circulation Research, 1991–1999

A Note of Appreciation

Eduardo Marbán

From the Editor in Chief, Circulation Research.

Correspondence to Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, 2700 Lighthouse Point East, Suite 230, Baltimore, MD 21224. E-mail circres{at}heart.org

	Introduction

Top Introduction

 
Few people in cardiovascular research can boast of so many accomplishments as Steve Vatner. After training with Eugene Braunwald, Steve went on to launch an impressive record investigating contractile regulation in integrative systems. Among Steve's notable accomplishments is the establishment of rigorous methods for evaluating contractility and coronary flow in vivo, which enabled him to discover key phenomena including that of myocardial stunning. He has worked on animals as large as giraffes and as tiny as mice. Famous for the long hours he keeps (and expects of his trainees), Steve has distinguished himself as a mentor, having trained a number of outstanding investigators including Tom Hintze, Guy Heyndrickx, Paul Murray, Rick Shannon, and Pilar Macho.

Here, however, I want to call particular attention to Steve's tenure as Editor in Chief of Circulation Research, which ended technically in June but which actually persists through this issue, which is the last to contain a predominance of papers decided upon in Pittsburgh. Steve inherited a proud tradition (Circulation Research published its first issue in 1953, so that it is now older than its new Editor!) and a successful journal from his predecessor, Harry Fozzard. Not content to let the journal rest on its laurels, he immediately embarked on an aggressive campaign of modernization. Steve foresaw the increasingly central role of molecular genetics in cardiovascular studies and successfully made Circulation Research the preferred venue for such work. Likewise, judicious recruitment and support of appropriate Associate Editors enabled Steve to increase dramatically the representation of vascular biology in the journal. Under his tenure, submissions doubled, the acceptance rate halved, and the impact factor increased progressively to greater than 8. All this required tireless effort and dedication, always apparent from the briefcases bulging with manuscripts that invariably accompanied Steve to international meetings (and which he would not hesitate to pull out during less-than-absorbing talks).

Although it is not part of his workaholic public persona, his friends know Steve to be an avid fisherman who particularly enjoys pursuing salmon in cold waters. The Figure appropriately shows Steve in a relaxed and gratified pose off the coast of British Columbia, having been successful in a pursuit to which he can now dedicate more time (although whether or not he will is debatable). Kudos to this great Editor, now gone fishin' after a remarkable tenure.

View larger version (68K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Gone fishin': Steve Vatner with salmon (photograph taken by Thomas Hintze).

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marbán, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marbán, E.