Everyone who contributes to Journal of Cell Science – from authors to the Company of Biologists production staff – will be very sorry to hear that Richard Sever is stepping down as Executive Editor at the end of 2007. Richard joined us in 1999 and has spear-headed many changes in JCS since then. He has been responsible for commissioning the journal's Commentaries, launching `In this issue' and `Cell Science at a Glance', not to mention looking after Caveman and Mole, and promoting the journal at every opportunity (Fig. 1). He has also kept the academic editors (more or less) under control and managed the implementation of our new online submission and review system last year.
Richard (right) with JCS Editor Arnoud Sonnenberg at the Gordon Conference on fibronectin, integrins and related molecules in Il Ciocco this year.
After a degree in Biochemistry at Oxford University, Richard obtained his PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He then left bench science to work as an in-house editor – first on Current Opinion in Cell Biology and then on Trends in Biochemical Sciences – before joining JCS. His new position is at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he will be Acquisitions Editor, working on books and online material. We wish him all the very best and look forward to continuing to see him at conferences.
Richard is succeeded as Executive Editor by Sharon Ahmad. Sharon has previously worked as an editor on Journal of Biology and several Nature titles. She is joined by our new Associate Reviews Editor, Meredith Ross, previously a postdoctoral research fellow at the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge.
