This issue marks a significant milestone in the history of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics: it is the first of our 50th volume. A half-century of publishing is cause enough to pause, if only for a moment, and look back at a few of the many highlights in our history. I hope you will indulge me as I reflect on a few of the more pivotal decisions in our Journal’s history.
Our publication began in 1972, under the title Medicolegal News. George J. Annas served as the inaugural editor-in-chief, and Frances Miller was our first associate editor. Both George and Fran continue to teach at Boston University (our home institution) today, and Fran’s office is located in the ASLME suite; thus we have a great deal of institutional memory to draw on. During the 1970s ASLME also began to publish other journals, including the American Journal of Law & Medicine and Nursing, Law & Ethics. In 1981 Nursing Law was combined with Medicolegal News to form a new journal: The Journal of Law, Medicine & Healthcare. In 1993 the word “ethics” was added to the title, completing the name of the journal you now hold in your hands, the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics.
During the last fifty years innumerable people have contributed to the Journal, either as an executive director of ASLME, an editor-in-chief, an editor, a column editor, or a designer, a list that is both a who’s-who of the health law world and a roll call of some of our closest friends. That list would include George Annas, Elliot Sagall, Edward Doudera, Larry Gostin, Benjamin Moulton, Kelly McDonald, Kathleen Boozang, Mark Rothstein, James Hodge, Judi Haviland McCormick, Heather Barrett Marshall, Sandra Johnson, Ana Iltis, Kevin Outerson, Cathy Richmond Robinson, and Courtney McClellan. I am fortunate enough to be the longest-tenured editor in the history of JLME, serving for nearly half of the publication’s entire existence. It remains a pleasure to come in every day because I work with my brilliant colleague and dear friend Margo Smith. Together we report in on a near-daily basis to our wonderful editor-in-chief, Aaron Kesselheim.
Carrying on the legacy of these scholars and friends is reason enough to be proud of the work we do. But we also consider ourselves caretakers and trustees of this wonderful journal, both for the people who came before and the people who will follow. We do it, more than anything, for our loyal members and readers, who have sustained us and supported us in good times and bad. For our 50th anniversary issue we tried to bring you something exciting and new (see my Foreword to this issue’s symposium on Anti-Racism and Heath Law) but the greatest part of our job is that we try to bring you something exciting and new with every issue. Thank you for being the reason we have been here for fifty years.
