When Farewell Is Not Goodbye

Over its 57-year history, JCO has been shaped the most by five people: our Founding Editor, Gene Gott­lieb, and our Editors-in-Chief, Neal Kravitz, Bob Keim, and Larry White.

The fifth is someone who has worked on the journal longer and influenced it more than anyone but Dr. Gottlieb: our Executive Editor, David Vogels, who is retiring after 43 years, first as the Assistant Editor, then as the Managing Editor, and finally as the Executive Editor. David has also served as the President of JCO since 1989. Although he’d be the first to tell you the journal is a collaborative effort involving our staff, our Editor-­in-Chief, our Editorial Board, and, until his death in 2018, Dr. Gottlieb, in a very real way, David has run the journal for the past 35 years. Just as there is far more to operating a private practice than aligning teeth, directing the journal involves not just selecting and publishing manuscripts, but also managing our small staff; administering shipping and circulation, the website, and JCO seminars and now webinars; and everything else that goes into operating a small business.

But steering the business of JCO comes second to David’s largest contribution: this editorial is the first piece of printed material since 1981 that he has not seen prior to publication. One of the hallmarks of the journal has always been our readability. Without sacrificing the core information in a manuscript, we’ve never been afraid to be vigorous with the editing pencil. Dr. Gottlieb, a journalist before he became a dentist, wanted JCO to read more like The New York Times than an academic journal, and this remains one of our central tenets.

David, a graduate of the University of Missouri’s journalism school and an award-winning journalist during his time in the U.S. Army, brought editing to new heights. He is one of the best editors you will encounter, with a skill for taking what you’ve written and making it better, every single time. Cutting the superfluous, tightening the long-winded, and reordering the dis­organized, David can improve any written communication, from an e-mail to the most technical of our manuscripts—for after all this time, David also possesses the orthodontic knowledge to understand the articles we publish at the deepest level.

Which is why I’m pleased to announce that he will continue to do one thing for JCO in the future: an editing pass on each article. As with Dr. Gottlieb’s retirement in 1988 and Dr. Keim’s in 2022, David is leaving, but not entirely. He has been slowly turning over his other editorial responsibilities to our newly promoted Managing Editor, Monica Miller-Domaille, who continues the JCO tradition of editors with sharp pencils. I have taken over as President and will strive to continue to expand the value of a JCO subscription as we approach 60 years of publishing. And, like many orthodontic practices, JCO will remain a family business. David was Gene’s son-in-law, and I am David’s son.