Howard C. Bauchner, MD, vice chair of pediatrics at Boston University and editor of a U.K. pediatrics journal, will succeed Catherine DeAngelis, MD, MPH, as editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association in July, the organization announced today.
Bauchner wants to add content that will be "informative and provocative" and will continue to expand the journal's push into technological frontiers, he said during a press briefing.
"It's an extraordinary honor and privilege to become the next editor of JAMA," Bauchner said, calling the journal "a jewel in medical publishing."
Among the topics about which Bauchner hopes to inspire debate are the utility of Affordable Care Organizations (ACOs) and physician training programs.
"I worry that the model hasn't changed for decades despite changes in what medical school students and residents need to learn," he said.
Bauchner is also cognizant of the fact many visitors to JAMA's website are not physicians.
"There's a far greater interest on the part of the public than in the past," he said.
Thus, many readers consume only the abstract, which calls for an emphasis on these summaries to "be pristine, be accurate."
He also debated lengthening the abstracts from the current average of 250 words to 500, in order to convey more of a paper's message to the abstract-only reader.
Given the expanded readership, along with the increasing complexity and implications of research papers, Bauchner said it is "incumbent upon journals to frame research reports in a way that hasn't necessarily been done in the past."
That could involve adding an editorial or commentary to all reports that would place the research "in the larger context of the healthcare system," he said.
Bauchner also plans to continue the drive toward more online-first publications, and said JAMA will continue to evolve with trends in communication and publishing.
George Lundberg, MD, editor-at-large for 鶹ý and a former JAMA editor, said Bauchner "seems to have all the right training and experience to be well prepared for this important position."
Lundberg noted that appointing two pediatricians in a row to the top JAMA editorial position "is a first for the AMA."
Michael Maves, MD, executive vice president and CEO of the AMA, said the organization conducted a large and thorough search that yielded many high-quality candidates.
DeAngelis announced in September that she would step down as JAMA editor on July 1 of this year. After 11 years at the helm of the journal, she plans to return to Johns Hopkins to develop a Center for Professionalism in Medicine and the Related Professions, including nursing, public health, business, and law.
Bauchner is currently the editor-in-chief of the Archives of Disease in Childhood, the official publication of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health in the U.K., and has served in that position since 2003.
He has also served on the editorial boards of BMJ and Journal Watch, and has published more than 125 papers on topics including health promotion, clinical trials, and quality improvement.
At Boston University, Bauchner is a professor of pediatrics and community health sciences, vice chair of the department of pediatrics, and the assistant dean for alumni affairs and CME.
He did undergraduate training at the University of California Berkeley, followed by medical school at Boston University in 1979. He completed his internship and junior-year residency at Boston City Hospital, his senior-year residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and then returned to be chief resident at Boston City Hospital.
Bauchner will be the 16th editor in the journal's 127-year history.