In this issue: Cardiology Today's new design and content

Cardiology Today has been redesigned with more journal summaries, shorter articles, richer perspective.

Issue: July 2008

ByCarl J. Pepine, MD, MACC

Cardiovascular disease and its care have undergone tremendous change since we created Cardiology Today over a decade ago. To better accommodate this changing field we are pleased to announce several changes to the publication.

This issue includes significant changes to the design and content of Cardiology Today, and many of these begin with the front cover:

A crisp look with more white space.
Top news from the five subspecialty areas in cardiovascular medicine, in addition to articles about practice management and quality care.
A snapshot of recent research data in a Cardiology Today scorecard.
A 'sky-box' that directs you to additional content in the issue.

We have also compressed our previous 12 sections into six, beginning with this issue. These include:

Arrhythmia Disorders: news related to electrophysiology, sudden death, new electrical devices and antiarrhythmic drugs and, of course, atrial fibrillation. Douglas P. Zipes, MD, is section editor. Zipes is distinguished professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine Krannert Institute of Cardiology.
CHD and Prevention: news in general cardiology with an emphasis on prevention, including new trials related to dysglycemia, obesity, metabolic syndrome and lipids. Roger S. Blumenthal, MD, is the section editor. Blumenthal is professor of medicine and director of The Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease.
Heart Failure and Transplantation: news from major heart failure meetings, with emphasis on new drugs and devices. Cardiac regeneration, LVADs and other support approaches will be included. James B. Young, MD, is section editor. Young is chairman and professor, George & Linda Kaufman Chair, division of medicine and Lerner College of Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic.
Imaging: news about imaging modalities and their application in cardiovascular medicine. We plan an emphasis on the newer noninvasive modalities (eg, MRI and CT as well as molecular imaging). W. Gregory Hundley, MD, is section editor. Hundley is professor in internal medicine and radiology, and medical director of cardiovascular MRI at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Practice Management and Quality Care: articles about current and anticipated reimbursement issues, practice management and health policy. Samuel Wann, MD, is section editor. Wann is chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Wisconsin Heart Hospital and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin Madison and Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
Vascular Medicine: news about interventional cardiology, hypertension, stroke, carotid stenting, and vascular biology. Peter Libby, MD, and Peter C. Block, MD, share section editor duties. Libby is chief of cardiovascular medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Block is director of the clinical trials office in the department of cardiology at Emory University Hospital.

Shorter articles

We will have shorter clips in response to the changing needs of cardiovascular specialists who have a limited amount of time to read the increasing number of news sources available in their specialty area. Additionally we will have more brief comments to provide perspective from our expanded editorial board.

We would like our readers to know they can turn to Cardiology Today for a quick and concise updated summary of the most important trial data presented at scientific sessions and in the top journal articles in their specialty area, as well as the place to find perspective about why the data are important or should impact clinical practice.

In this issue, look for Meeting Highlights for short summaries of key data, In the Journals for concise reports of research published in peer-reviewed journals, and Perspective submitted by our editorial board members and others.

Redesigned website

I also invite you to visit our redesigned CardiologyToday.com where will we update news each week and provide easy access to our archive of past articles. You can look for articles by subspecialty, or you can read the most recent additions to In the Journals and Meeting Highlights. Also we invite you to submit your comments online about articles or trial data.

At the website, you can sign up for the News Wire, which will deliver news to your email each week, check out which articles are the most popular on our website, find the latest calendar listing of medical meetings, and locate recent career opportunities posted on our site.

Lastly, I would like to hear what you think about this new website and the redesign of our publication. You can send your comments to me at Editor@CardiologyToday.com.