Winston Churchill has always been one of my personal heroes. Churchill is noted for a wide range of memorable quotations, including, “Never, never, never give up!,” “Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught,” and “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Perhaps my favorite Churchill quote, though, is this one: “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
We are certainly living in a dynamic time in history, fraught with change both in the world at large and in orthodontics. At the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics, however, we are constantly striving for perfection. Over the next few months, you will see some significant changes coming to JCO, including changes to the makeup of our editorial board. I have been incredibly blessed with the opportunity to serve on the board since 1999, and especially blessed in serving as Editor-in-Chief since 2002. While this position has been the high point of my professional career, any credit for the remarkable success and growth of JCO over the past quarter-century must be shared with a great many people, chief among them the members of our editorial board.
This month, six of our longest-serving editors from around the world are retiring from the board. I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and admiration to these six remarkable orthodontists, clinicians, teachers, and leaders of our specialty. I am deeply honored to have worked with each and every one of them during their many years with JCO. In recognition, here are some brief notes on these esteemed colleagues, in alphabetical order.
Dr. Vittorio Cacciafesta (Italy), Contributing Editor since 2007. Dr. Cacciafesta is a graduate of the University of Naples in dentistry and dental prosthetics. In 1999, he specialized at the Department of Orthodontics, Royal Dental College, Aarhus University, Denmark, where he obtained a Master of Science degree in orthodontics. He also holds a PhD in the biotechnology of dental materials. Since 2008, he has worked at his private practice in Milan, Italy, and in 2015, he opened a second clinic in Stevenage, U.K.
Dr. Jorge Fastlicht (Mexico), Contributing Editor since 1969 (longest term in JCO history). Dr. Fastlicht is a Diplomate of the ABO and is certified by the Mexican Council of Orthodontics. Additionally, he is Postgraduate Professor Emeritus at the Intercontinental University and Postgraduate Professor of the Prosthodontics Clinic at the Technological University of Mexico, both in Mexico City. For many years, he has also operated a private orthodontic practice in Mexico City.
Dr. Birte Melsen (Denmark), Associate Editor since 1998. Dr. Melsen received her dental degree in 1964 from Aarhus University, Denmark. She specialized in orthodontics in 1971, receiving her orthodontic certificate in 1974 from the Royal Dental College in Aarhus. She became Head of the Department of Orthodontics at the same college in 1975 and is still serving in that position. A former President of the European Orthodontic Society, she has made significant contributions in the field of orthodontics with her research, publishing about 350 papers in scientific journals on topics primarily related to anchorage and adult orthodontics.
Dr. Jim McNamara (Michigan), Contributing Editor since 1983. Dr. McNamara is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a major in speech. He received his dental and orthodontic education at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and a doctorate in anatomy from the University of Michigan. He is currently the Thomas M. and Doris Graber Endowed Professor Emeritus in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. He is also a Professor Emeritus in the University of Michigan Medical School and a former research professor at the Center for Human Growth and Development, an interdisciplinary research unit on the Ann Arbor campus.
Dr. Vittorio Cacciafesta
Dr. Jorge Fastlicht
Dr. Birte Melsen
Dr. Jim McNamara
Dr. Michael Swartz (California), Contributing Editor since 2006. Dr. Swartz is currently the Clinical Director for Orthodontic Training and Seminars at Ormco, where he organizes and conducts continuing education programs. He began his dental career as a laboratory technician and then became involved in dental materials research and development, earning his dental degree from the University of Southern California. In 1975, he joined Ormco as Director of Research and Development, while maintaining a private general practice. After receiving his postdoctoral orthodontic education at the University of California, San Francisco, he maintained a private specialty practice in Encino, California, from 1985 to 1998. He is now actively lecturing worldwide while treating a limited number of patients at the Sybron headquarters in Orange, California.
Dr. Bjorn Zachrisson (Norway), Contributing Editor since 1983, Associate Editor since 1998. Dr. Zachrisson is a renowned orthodontist and educator; along with Dr. McNamara, he was a featured lecturer for JCO Seminars in the 1980s and ’90s. A life member of the European Society of Orthodontics, the Angle Society of Europe, and the AAO, he received the AAO Lifetime Merit Award in 1975, the Jacob A. Salzmann Award in 1986, the John Valentine Mershon Award in 1998, and the Louise Ada Jarabak Memorial International Teachers and Research Award in 2007. He serves as a Visiting Professor at Loma Linda University, California, and as a Professor of Orthodontics at the University of Oslo, Norway.
Dr. Michael Swartz
Dr. Bjorn Zachrisson
It would be impossible for me to adequately express my gratitude to each of these great doctors. They have all been significant contributors to the success of JCO, in addition to their many, many contributions to the specialty of orthodontics. They have served as my role models, my guides throughout my career, and, truth be told, my most valuable critics. My heartfelt thanks to all of you.
RGK
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