Four Years Later…

View Large Image Download to PowerPoint

Executive Editor Mark F. Russo, Ph.D.

I didn't sleep much the night I agreed to become the next Executive Editor of the Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation. On that night four years ago, my thoughts were many and my emotions mixed. Among my many emotions was a strong sense of pride—I was asked to take on a job that I felt was extremely important and interested me deeply. I was excited about all the possibilities that lay ahead. And I must admit, I was a bit fearful that I would be unable to rise to the challenge before me. Now, as I approach the end of my tenure, I look back on that sleepless night and smile with the knowledge that my fears were unfounded.

JALA has experienced tremendous positive change and maturation over the previous four years. We entered into a publishing partnership with Elsevier, the world's largest and most renown publisher of medical and scientific journals. The partnership brought with it a new cover design and dramatic facelift throughout. Partnering with Elsevier also provided journal authors with opportunities to have their manuscripts distributed much more widely, in both print and electronic formats. A fully online manuscript submission and review system also went into use. We revamped manuscript categories and introduced the JALA Tutorial. We began the regular and very popular Literature Highlights column by Drs. Hilmar Weinmann and Kerstin Thurow. We initiated periodic special issues of JALA that focus on a single topic of interest, and introduced World News in a special A-pages section at the beginning of each issue as well as online.

Changes extend beyond the editorial content of the journal. For example, we began the regular practice of hosting VIP receptions for all those who actively contribute to the journal. We also created the JALA Reader's Choice Award, presented annually to the authors of a manuscript that JALA readers select.

The credit for this remarkable transformation goes to a team of many people, including the JALA Editorial Board members, authors, reviewers, journal staff, and above all Ms. Nan Hallock, managing editor of JALA.

If I was asked to highlight just one of our achievements, I would choose the way the journal refocused its activities on the people that it serves. Some examples include extending invitations to experts in the field to serve as guest editors for special issues; and the adoption of the JALA Spirit of Mentorship, which provides all prospective authors with useful, constructive criticism and guidance to help them improve the presentation of their work and create high standards of quality for JALA.

As we begin a new phase of the journal, I am very pleased to introduce Doug Gurevitch of the University of California, San Diego, as the next Executive Editor of JALA. Doug was the ideal candidate for this position, and I am thrilled that he agreed to take on this responsibility. Doug has worked in the field for many years, and has been a long time contributor to the ALA. Having been an ALA presenter, JALA author, Editorial Board member, short course instructor, associate program chair for LabAutomation2005, and most recently the program chair for LabAutomation2006, Doug is intimately familiar with JALA, the ALA, and more generally the field of laboratory automation. I look forward to the continued growth and success of JALA under Doug's leadership.

Looking back, I realize that I began my tenure with mixed feelings, and now that I am ending it I have many of those same feelings, but for different reasons. I am very proud of how far we have traveled, and I am excited about all the new developments still to come. But, I am no longer fearful. Progress has been swift and substantial, and the future of the journal is very bright with the promise of many forthcoming contributions to the field of laboratory automation to be reported by JALA authors. I look forward to continuing to serve JALA as a member of its editorial board.

Sincerely,

View Large Image Download to PowerPoint

Mark F. Russo, Ph.D.

Thank You 

The Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation sincerely thanks the many talented volunteers whose contributions resulted in six well-received, peer-reviewed issues of JALA in 2006.

Thank You 2006 JALA Guest Editors 

Erik Rubin, Ph.D.

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Special Issue: LabAutomation2006 (JALA 11.4 August 2006)

Anthony Lozada, M.Sc.

Velocity 11

Special Issue: LabAutomation2006 (JALA 11.4 August 2006)

Thank You 2006 JALA Authors 

Nitin Agrawal

Ahmed Al-Alawi

Keith Albert

Maneesha Altekar

Arezou Azarani

David Balaban

James Becker

A.S. Bedekar

Mark Beggs

Duncan Bell

Neil Benn

Sibani Lisa Biswal

Michael Bizak

Lawrence Blyn

Mangkey Bounpheng

Evelyn Bowlby

John Thomas Bradshaw

Jimmy Bruner

Jonathan Bullock

Angela Burrell

Glenda Chandler

Alison Chaiken

James Chiao

Humphrey Chow

Jon Chudyk

Douglas Clark

Victoria Clark

Stephen Clulow

Lendell Cummins

Richard Curtis

Dave Dalrymple

David Danley

Dan Davolos

Collette DeChard

Nicholas Dickenson

Seth Dobrin

Huijin Dong

Robert Donnenberg

Jonathan Dordick

Derek Douglas

Jared Drader

Klaus Drese

Greg Dummer

Robert Dunn

Mark Durst

Jacob Durtschi

James Dyer

David Ecker

Richard Ellson

Andrew Emili

Elizabeth Erickson

Mark Eshoo

Kurt Evans

Xingwang Fang

Ye Fang

Jerome Ferrance

Ann Ferrie

J.J. Feng

Kim Fieweger

Igor Fomenko

Michael Forbush

Sho Fuji

David Gannon

Victor Geraldo

Andrew Ghetler

Mario Giron

Andrew Goldenberg

Dirk Gordes

Abel Gutierrez

Jose Gutierrez

Fred Hajjar

Thomas Hall

Nan Hallock

James Hannis

Steffen Hardt

Vanessa Harpin

David Harris

Mark Herrmann

Quoc Hoang

Steven Hofstadler

Carol Homon

Ian Hudson

Cristina Ivy

J Jayapandian

Mohammed Jemal

Nahid Jetha

Yun Jiang

Mike Jones

Ronny Jopp

S Kalavathi

Mohammed Kashem

Fiona Kelly

Minseok Kim

Duane Knize

Mipha Koh

Anne Kopf-Sill

Tanya Knaide

Gary Kramer

Carol Kreader

S Krishnamoorthy

Jorg Kutter

James Landers

James LaRocque

Moo-Yeal Lee

Timothy Lekin

Harold Levene

Feng Li

Guangshan Li

Brian Libby

Joseph Liscouski

Elliott Liu

Jane Liu

Robin Liu

Steve Lowry

Anthony Lozada

Miguel Maccio

Arun Majumdar

Sheri Manalili

Andrew Marziali

Steven Mason

Christian Massire

Frank Maurio

Edward McKillip

Ceara McNally

Andy McShea

Rachael Melton

Kevin Moore

Olivia Mooren

Sharmili Moturi

Peter Miu

Gotz Munchow

Sandra Munro

Mitchell Mutz

Peyman Najmabadi

Richard Nelson

Tai Nguyen

Pamela Norris

Joseph Olechno

Zheng Ouyang

Je-Kyun Park

Lori Patnaude

Michael Pear

Carolyn Pommier

Shalini Prasad

Jorge Quijano

Raymond Ranken

Digvijay Raorane

Jochen Rieth

David Robbins

Alexis Rogers

Andrew Rose

Victor Rosso

Alexander Roth

Erik Rubin

Karl Rudnick

Terry Rusch

Mark Russo

Vivek Samant

Rangarajan Sampath

Kristin Sannes-Lowery

Reinhold Schaefer

Amy Schink

Jacqueline Sedman

Brent Segelke

Paula Selley

O.K. Sheela

Jean Shieh

Sushil Shrinivasan

Peter Simpson

Tony Siuda

Mike Slota

Fredric Solomon

Veronica Soloveva

Anne Song

Benjamin Spaulding

Jay Strum

Dominic Suciu

S. Sundaram

Paul Taylor

A Thiruarul

Kerstin Thurow

Maria Tobarmosqueraa

Jeffrey Toney

Dominique Toppani

Fabrice Turlais

Victor Ugaz

Rafael Valdes-Camin

Frederick van de Voort

Jennifer van Dinther

John Venit

Karl Voelkerding

Demetrius Walcott

Richard Wales

Danhui Wang

Michelle Waters

James Weber

Hilmar Weinmann

Gregory Wendel

Pat Whalley

Neill White

Roy Willis

Carl Wittwer

Matthew Wollerton

Lester S.Y. Wong

Achim Wixforth

John T.Y. Wu

Weiwei Xu

Jeffrey Yingling

Hartmut Zimmermann

Thank You 2006 JALA Manuscript Reviewers 

Maneesha Altekar

Gordon Alton

Mike Ashley

Thomas Astle

Arezou Azarani

Mark Beggs

Neil Benn

Tony Beugelsdijk

John Bradshaw

Christine Brideau

James Britt

John Brohan

Andrew Bullen

Andrew Carmen

Peter Cooper

Thomas Crevier

David Cumpstey

Raymond Dessy

Christian Dinter

Robert Doebler

Huijin Dong

Nader Donzel

Joerg Dreessen

Todd Edwards

Richard Ellson

Steven Fillers

Rob Fitzgerald

Jordan Gerton

Oliver Geschke

James Gill

Peter Grandsard

Douglas Gurevitch

Steve Hamilton

Rifat Hamoudi

Thomas Hartmann

David Herold

Steven Hoffman

Ying Huang

Stephen Hughes

Jeffrey Hurst

Michael Johnson

Rick Jones

Sanjaya Joshi

Paul Kaplita

Paul Kayne

Edward Kerns

Anne Kopf-Sill

Steve Kubala

Jorg Kutter

John Laycock

Tanguy LeNeel

Chuck Li

Urban Liebel

Anthony Lozada

Bob McDowall

Roger McIntosh

J. McWilliams

Patrick Merel

Stephen Michalczyk

Kevin Moore

Ben Moshiri

Carl Murray

David Nirschl

Laura Pajak

James Paulson

David Pechter

Douglas Perry

Shalini Prasad

Steve Richmond

Erik Rubin

Kara Rubin

Mark Russo

Giles Sanders

Reinhold Schaefer

David Semin

Toshiyuki Shiina

Peter Simpson

William Sonnefeld

Andrew Southan

John Souverijn

Dana Spence

Torsten Staab

Juergen Steigert

James Sterling

Norbert Stoll

Tetsuro Sugiura

Paul Taylor

Michael Thomas

Kerstin Thurow

Alain Truchaud

Richard Wagner

Harold Weller

Yining Zhao

Tong Zhu

Juergen Zimmermann