From the Editors

Abstract

The American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) is the world’s largest inclusive retina organization. It was founded in 1982 to disseminate best care practices, evaluate novel treatment strategies, investigate new technologies, and continuously drive improved care for retina patients. Traditionally, we have used the ASRS Annual Scientific Meeting to accomplish these goals, but like all major meetings, presentations are often short and absent of rigorous discussion. Our first foray into member publications was Retina Times. Retina Times began as a newsletter in 1999 and has since expanded to nearly 80 pages, including reports from ASRS committees, point/counterpoint discussions, key opinion leader reviews of seminal topics (uveitis, ocular oncology, pediatrics, surgical techniques), case presentations (X-Files), updates on ocular imaging and clinical trials, as well as editorials from the ASRS president, the president of the Foundation of the ASRS, and our editor in chief. Retina Times has become a critical component of the ASRS, bringing activities of our society and its members to the fore. As Retina Times progressed, it became obvious to the ASRS Executive Committee and Board that the publication lacked the ability to incorporate peer-reviewed articles and disseminate them to our members—and throughout the national and international retina community. Retina specialty-focused journals were rare just a few years ago; many authors were experiencing long waits to publication, and full published articles were typically not available for free access. After extensive discussion, we at the ASRS felt it was imperative to begin our first retina specialty journal—and the Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases (JVRD) was born. The launch of any journal is challenging, and like all things ASRS, this was done thoughtfully, using our executive committee, board, and membership. After a national search, we identified Donald J. D’Amico, MD, as our first editor in chief. Dr D’Amico is well known to the ASRS and to the retina academic and research field. He is the chair of the Ophthalmology Department at Weill Cornell Medical Center, has served in multiple leadership roles throughout the field including executive participation in our sister societies, has a strong presence internationally as a director/moderator in multiple international meeting venues, and is routinely involved in teaching internationally. With Dr D’Amico’s acceptance of the founding editor-inchief role, we began to flesh out the Journal—identifying our publisher (SAGE Publications), deciding to provide both a print edition and electronic access to subscribers, determining our bimonthly publishing schedule, establishing our manuscript focus (retina-specific original manuscripts, case series, case reports, editorials, and special publications such as retina clinical practice papers)—and, critically, appointing the Journal leadership team. The JVRD leadership team includes: