LAUSR

When I accepted the Editor-in-Chief position from the late Professor P. Prithvi Raj in 2005, it was anticipated that the term would be for 5 years. At that time, I knew full well the responsibility to the readers the position entailed. Looking back at what ended up to be over two terms of service, I am amazed and humbled as I recall the many authors, referees, and editors I have been privileged to work with and from whom I have learned a great deal. Any credit most certainly is due to the hard work and dedication of those experts. In contrast, the shortcomings have been my responsibility, as final arbiter of both content and process. Moreover, as was the case with Raj and his wife, Susan Raj, I could not have done this without the support and contributions from my wife, Susan Hartrick, who worked as Managing Editor for most of my tenure. I owe much gratitude to the entire team, those who came before, and to the authors who entrusted their work to us. A number of changes have taken place over the years, the improvements in online and mobile access being just the most recent examples. Nevertheless, we continue to strive to implement further improvements, with the goal of making Pain Practice the journal authors, clinical researchers, and clinicians consider the premier international clinical journal for pain practitioners. To that end, after an extensive search spanning nearly 2 years, we are confident that we have found the right successor to the position of Editor-in-Chief for this transformational time in both pain medicine and publishing. Professor Bert Joosten is a well-recognized clinical pain research scientist. His experience in translational pain research will certainly help to shape the future direction of the journal in a fashion that serves the practicing pain physician, the scientific community, and the pain patients globally. The analogy to that of a symphony conductor, “passing the baton,” was first established by Dr. Raj when he placed his trust in me to continue directing the “orchestra” he formed in 2001. I now pass the baton, once again, to a new conductor, hopefully delivering Raj’s opus to him in an acceptable tempo and with adequate timbre. It is expected that the new Editor-inChief will place his distinctive mark on both the process and content of the journal. We are confident this new direction will revitalize the journal, keeping Pain Practice relevant in this dynamic pain medicine environment.