NEW YORK, Oct 08 (Reuters Health) -- The American Medical Association (AMA) named Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, a dean at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, as the new editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Friday.
DeAngelis succeeds Dr. George D. Lundberg, who was dismissed last January for publishing a survey of college students that showed that 60% of respondents did not include oral sex in their definition of "having sex." The survey was published amid the Clinton impeachment hearings, which certain AMA executives viewed as injecting the organization into political debate.
DeAngelis is JAMA's 15th editor in the journal's history and is the first woman to ever hold the top editorial position. She will also hold the position of editor-in-chief of the AMA's Division of Scientific Information and Multimedia.
DeAngelis was introduced as the new editor at a press conference in New York on Friday afternoon. She is currently editor of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, which is also published by the AMA, and serves on JAMA's editorial board.
DeAngelis said that she is "thrilled and honored" to be chosen as the new editor of JAMA, a post she will take over on January 1.
"I believe my role will be to guard what I take is a sacred trust in the medical scientific community," she said, adding that "editorial freedom is essential," and that she has no doubts that she will have that freedom.
Dr. Roger N. Rosenberg, chair of the JAMA search committee and editor of the AMA's Archives of Neurology, said in introducing DeAngelis, "Today is a great day for American medicine. Today is a great day for the American Medical Association, and it's a very great day for The Journal of the American Medical Association."
Rosenberg said that more than 30 candidates were considered for the post. DeAngelis was the unanimous and first choice of the search committee.
After his firing, Lundberg was critical of attempts by AMA executives to interfere with JAMA's editorial decisions and charged the organization with being out of sync with American physicians. In response to Lundberg's criticism, Dr. Randolph Smoak, chairman of the AMA's Board of Trustees, said that JAMA's editorial independence "is absolute and sacrosanct."
Lundberg has since taken over as editor-in-chief of Medscape, an online medical information website. Since his firing, JAMA has been run by two interim co-editors, Dr. Richard Glass and Dr. Phil Fontanarosa. They will remain as editors under DeAngelis.
At the press conference, Dr. E. Ratcliffe Anderson, Jr., executive vice president and CEO of the AMA, said, "The American Medical Association remains 100% committed to the editorial independence of JAMA." He added, "We have no doubt that Dr. DeAngelis will work to ensure that JAMA continues to lead the medical community in publishing important scientific research and in maintaining its position as the world's leader in peer-reviewed medical journals."
DeAngelis said that as a pediatrician, she would like to expand JAMA's coverage of child health and advocacy issues, such as child violence and teen substance abuse, and possibly more women's health issues.
