Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Psychiatry was launched in 1988. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of psychiatry is divided into 13 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue.

Section Editors

Edmond Chiu

Professor Edmond Chiu holds the position of an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the University of Melbourne after retiring from the substantive position of Professor/Director of the Academic Unit in Psychiatry of Old Age at St. George's Hospital in Melbourne.

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He was the President of International Psychogeriatric Association (1999-2001), and the Chair of the WPA Section in Old Age Psychiatry and is considered as one of the major leaders in the world of Old Age Psychiatry. He has co-edited eight books within this discipline and is member of editorial board of three Journals and will be the foundation co-editor of the newly established organ of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatry. For his contribution to Psychiatry, Medicine and Huntington's disease he was honoured by Australia with the Member of the Order of Australia in 1988. The award of the Medal of Honour from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2000 recognised his meritorious contributions to the College.

Orestes Forlenza

Dr Forlenza is a geriatric psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has been involved in clinical, educational and research activities in old age psychiatry for over 12 years. His career in this field started as an International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) research scholar at the Institute of Psychiatry and Department of Neuroscience, University of London, UK in 1996-7. Dr Forlenza obtained his PhD in 2000 at the University of Sao Paulo, and is currently Vice-Director of the Laboratory of Neuroscience at his Institution. He currently coordinates a multidisciplinary team of translational research, and is currently involved in clinical and biological studies addressing Alzheimer's disease, bipolar disorder and depression in the elderly.

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Bill Fulford

KWM (Bill) Fulford is Professor of Philosophy and Mental Health in the Medical School and the Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, where he runs a Masters, PhD and research programme in Philosophy, Ethics and Mental Health Practice. He is also a Fellow of St Cross College, a Member of the Philosophy Faculty, and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford; and Visiting Professor in Psychology, The Institute of Psychiatry and King's College, London University. He is the founder and Co-Editor of the first international journal for philosophy and mental health, PPP - Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, and of a new book series from Oxford University Press on International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry. A recent book in the series is his Oxford Textbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry co-authored with Professors Tim Thornton and George Graham. He is currently seconded part time to the Department of Health in London as Special Adviser for Values-Based Practice. With Professors Kamlesh Patel and Chris Heginbotham, he has recently established an international Institute for Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health at the University of Central Lancashire in England.

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John Sadler

John Z. Sadler, M.D. is the Daniel W. Foster Professor of Medical Ethics, a Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Professor in the Departments of Clinical Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA. Dr Sadler directs the Division of Ethics and Health Policy in the Department of Clinical Sciences, and the Division for Ethics in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr Sadler is a Chair of one of the institution's four Institutional Review Boards for the protection of human subjects in research and contributes to Southwestern's clinical and research ethics consultation services. A co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (AAPP), he helped steward the founding of the Association's affiliated journal, Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology (PPP), and continues to co-edit PPP with Bill Fulford, along with the Oxford University Press International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry book series. His philosophical research work in the philosophy and ethics of psychiatry has been supported with multiple federal and private foundation grants. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, chapters, and books. His most recent book, Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis, is the culmination of ten years' work on how values are involved in the design and content of psychiatric diagnostic classifications. A new book-length collaboration with philosopher Dr. Jennifer Radden, The Virtuous Psychiatrist: Character Ethics in Psychiatric Practice is currently under publisher review.

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Paul Hoff

Paul Hoff, born 1956, MD, PhD, is Deputy Medical Director at the Department of General and Social Psychiatry, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He received his medical degree at the University of Mainz, Germany in 1980, and his philosophical degree at the University of Munich, Germany, in 1988. From 1981 to 1996 he worked at the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Munich, where, in 1994, he became university lecturer. He received his official accreditation as psychiatrist and neurologist in 1989 and as psychotherapist in 1996. 1997 he was appointed university professor of psychiatry at the Technical University of Aachen, Germany (RWTH). Since June 2003 he has been working in Zurich.

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Dieter Naber

Dieter Naber, MD, is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany (132 beds, 42 day clinic places, 9000 outpatients).

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He attended medical school at the University of Göttingen from 1968 to 1971, and the University of Bonn from 1971 to 1974, followed by an internship in Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Biochemistry from 1974 to 1975.

He later became a board-certified psychiatrist in 1986, a psychotherapist in 1989, and an associate professor in 1992.

From 1977 to 1985, he worked at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Munich, with two intermissions (1978-1980 and 1984-1985) for basic and clinical research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, USA.

Since 1995, he has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Hamburg.

Professor Naber is a member of several professional organisations, including the Collegium Internationale Psychopharmacologicum and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is a frequent lecturer and has published 315 articles, 140 book chapters, and 28 books. He serves on a number of editorial and advisory boards, and acts as a reviewer for numerous international journals.

His research interests include long-term effects of neuroleptic treatment, subjective effects of neuroleptics, the quality of life in psychiatric patients, and the therapeutic alliance.

Harold Pincus

Harold Alan Pincus, M.D. is Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and Director of Quality and Outcomes Research at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Associate Director of Columbia's Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. Dr Pincus also serves as a Senior Scientist at the RAND Corporation. Previously he was director of the RAND-University of Pittsburgh Health Institute and executive vice chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, where he still maintains an adjunct professorship. He is the National Director of the Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program (funded by Atlantic Philanthropies), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's National Program on Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical and Systems Strategies and the John A. Hartford Foundation's national program on Building Interdisciplinary Geriatric Research Centers. Dr Pincus has also served as the deputy medical director of the American Psychiatric Association and the founding director of APA's Office of Research and Executive Director of the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education. Prior to joining the APA, he was the special assistant to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health.Dr Pincus graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Following completion of residency at George Washington University Medical Center, Dr Pincus was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. As a Clinical Scholar, Dr Pincus served as a professional staff member of the President's Commission on Mental Health at the White House and, subsequently, as a congressional fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Dr Pincus has edited or co-authored 23 books and over 300 scientific publications on health services research, science policy, research career development and the diagnosis, classification and treatment of mental disorders. He has led major health policy and services research and research training projects totaling over $100 million in external funding. Among other projects, he is currently leading the national evaluation of mental health services for veterans and the redesign of primary care and behavioral health in New Orleans.

He has also been a consultant to federal agencies and private organizations, including the U.S. Secret Service, John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation and the Hartford Foundation.