Retirement of Richard T. Scheife, Pharm.D., FCCP

Dr. Richard T. Scheife will be retiring as the second editor-in-chief for Pharmacotherapy on December 31, 2012. Dr. Scheife was appointed as editor-in-chief in 1985. He succeeded the first editor-in-chief and founder of Pharmacotherapy Publications Inc., Dr. Russell R. Miller, who died in 1985.

During his 27-year career as editor-in-chief, Dr. Scheife led the development of a journal with the highest impact factor (now 2.900) among all pharmacotherapy and clinical pharmacy journals in the world. Some of the significant changes in Pharmacotherapy during this 27-year period include expansion of the journal from 6 to 12 issues/year; enhancement of the peer-review process used to select review and research papers with high potential to be read and cited; appointment of scientific editors to help establish journal policies, direction, and make judgments on papers submitted to the journal; expansion of the editorial board to increase the number of experts available to review papers in various areas of pharmacotherapy; and establishment of themed journal issues to review current topics in pharmacotherapy.

During Dr. Scheife’s tenure, the Pharmacotherapy Board of Directors transferred the ownership of the journal to ACCP. Dr. Scheife led the transition of the journal to become the official journal of ACCP in 1989. Receipt of the journal as a membership service has consistently been highly valued by ACCP members.

In addition, Dr. Scheife continued the tradition established by Dr. Miller to provide authors of papers with detailed feedback for improvement from both content and scientific editing perspectives. Dr. Scheife will be missed by the many authors he has nurtured and will be remembered as a kind, helpful, and encouraging editor and colleague.

Dr. Scheife will be speaking about his experiences as Pharmacotherapy Editor-in-Chief on Sunday, October 21, 4:15 p.m., in Great Hall 3 of the Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, Florida, during a special segment of the ACCP Annual Business and Town Hall Meeting. All Annual Meeting attendees are encouraged to attend this session to hear Dr. Scheife’s comments and recognize his 27 years of outstanding service as editor-in-chief. In addition, readers and authors can e-mail him at [email protected] to applaud his service.

Appointment of C. Lindsay DeVane, Pharm.D., FCCP

Dr. C. Lindsay DeVane will become the next editor-in-chief of Pharmacotherapy, effective January 1, 2013. Dr. DeVane is currently holds the title of professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, South Carolina. He also is division chief, brain research and integrative neuropharmacology, and director, Laboratory of Drug Disposition and Pharmacogenetics, at MUSC. Dr. DeVane has had a distinguished career as a clinical pharmacy scientist. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Pharmacotherapy and the ACCP Board of Regents and currently serves as a scientific editor for Pharmacotherapy. He has served as a coeditor of Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental and is the author of more than 290 publications, of which greater than 150 are peer-reviewed research papers in medical and pharmacy journals. Dr. DeVane’s research program is supported by the National Institutes of Health and other extramural funding. He is a fellow of ACCP and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and is a Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist.

The Pharmacotherapy Board of Directors was pleased to receive a significant number of highly qualified applicants for the position of editor-in-chief. The Board selected Dr. DeVane for several reasons, including his extensive research and scholarship as a clinical pharmacy scientist and his previous journal experience as an author, scientific editor, reviewer, and editor. His experience as a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC has fostered his ability to develop strong interdisciplinary research teams. Two of his preliminary visions for the future of Pharmacotherapy are to make the journal even more highly read and cited by physicians and other health practitioners and to increase the number of papers submitted by physicians and other biomedical scientists. Please welcome Dr. DeVane as the incoming editor-in-chief for Pharmacotherapy. Dr. DeVane can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected].