A farewell editorial

In 1995, I took on my first position as a Chief Editor of a medical journal, which happened to be Current Opinion in Cardiology. The word opinion had a certain appeal, which I thought would be less restraining and enable greater discussion of the pros and cons to enhance the central message. It would also enable the authors to express their opinions and speculate on insight gleamed from the combination of new knowledge and clinical experience. Current Opinion in Cardiology has an international distribution, which is reflected in the countries of origin of the Section Editors and their Authors. The Authors would be seasoned clinicians who in addition to being well learned applied their knowledge daily to managing diverse cardiovascular disorders. They also had decades of experience in training residents, fellows, and other individuals engaged in healthcare delivery. The leadership role to be the Editor-in-Chief was passed on to me by renowned Dr Eric Topol who encouraged me to do it and bring to Current Opinion the emerging field of genetics of cardiovascular disorders. It has been a labor of love for many reasons but, most importantly, I have been fortunate to work with several of the most outstanding, hardworking intellectuals in my field, whose professional activities depended on being successful clinicians, educators, and researchers. The fruits of their labor appeared in Current Opinion in Cardiology, which comprehensively and relentlessly updated the cardiovascular field. It provided me a great source of information that has been challenging, fulfilling, and inspiring. Sometimes I felt I was exploiting all this talent without giving back, but I was only one of many who benefited from participating in this table of knowledge, enriched with each new issue of Current Opinion in Cardiology. The authors of these articles and their section editors had an innate love to express their pearls of wisdom and pass them on to the next generation. Publications add a somewhat unique feature to our destiny, and that is the power of the printed word to immortalize one's thoughts. Current Opinion in Cardiology is distributed throughout the world. We are forever wedded to our published thoughts and often humbled in retrospect to our lack of insight. Nevertheless, we are a privileged group who through the written word have the opportunity to immortalize our ideas and expressions to a worldwide readership. It is now three generations later, and time for new leadership to infuse new goals and inspire higher standards for the journal. It is with astonishment and appreciation I thank Wolters Kluwer for their sustained trust and confidence in me to lead the journal for three decades. Many thanks to all of my Section Editors and their Authors for their dedicated excellence and hard work to repeatedly meet all those deadlines. There is no limit to the appreciation and admiration for the publication staff who went above and beyond on a daily basis to perform essentially all of the work. Thanks to the many faculty over the years who tolerated and encouraged me. To Esperanza Acuna, my current Administrative Assistant, and Anna Domolo, the current Publication Coordinator and those who preceded them – thanks for your patience and dedication to get it right. Lastly, but not least, my gratitude to my wife Donna, my son Brandon and my daughter Alison who went without to enable me to pursue a labor of love, Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Cardiology. Acknowledgements None. Financial support and sponsorship None. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.