Letter from the Editors

This special issue of American Journal of Perinatology is devoted to the successful and influential career of one of its editors, Dr. Peter Auld. All articles published in this issue are contributed by Dr. Auld's colleagues and students in his honor. The following contributors finished a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine under Dr. Auld's mentorship: Marjorie Schulman, M.D., A.M. Francesca Tatad, M.D., William W. Frayer, M.D., Winslade A. Bowen, M.D., Alfred N. Krauss, M.D., Edmund F. La Gamma, M.D., F.A.A.P., Praveen Ballabh, M.D., Ajey Jain, M.D., Ivan Hand, M.D., Dennis T. Costakos, M.D., F.A.A.P., Gary Laborada, M.D., Michael Guliano, M.D., Mirjana Nesin, M.D., and Howard J. Birenbaum, M.D.

The issue starts with Dr. Jerald Lucey's reminiscence of the early days of neonatology and Dr. Auld's place in it, and finishes with Dr. Howard Birenbaum's personal account of Dr. Auld's influence on his professional life.

Peter Auld's career in neonatology started when this discipline did not even have a name. During 40 years as a Division Chief and Director of the Perinatology Center at what is now the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Dr. Auld treated thousands of neonates, developed neonatal policies, established a perinatal regional center, neonatal transport, neonatal nurse-practitioners' program, and a neonatal fellowship program. As a physician-scientist he advanced the field of neonatal medicine by serving on NIH study sections, participating and chairing national and international meetings. Although Dr. Auld's primary interest was and remained cardiorespiratory physiology of the developing human, his bibliography includes articles from essentially all aspects of neonatal-perinatal medicine. The variety of topics presented in this issue correlate with different projects that Dr. Auld fostered at the Perinatology Center: from pulmonary function testing (Krauss et al) to molecular markers of chronic lung disease (Ballabh et al); from neonatal ethics (Chervenak et al) to economics of managed care (Schulman), from dosing of vitamin K (Costakos et al) to diagnosis of neonatal sepsis (Laborada et al), and so on.

Almost 100 fellows learned the science and art of neonatology from Dr. Auld and went to practice in many regions of the USA (California, Maine, Minnesota, Puerto Rico) and worldwide (Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia). They worked as department chairmen, division chiefs, faculty members, in private groups, with insurance companies, in federal agencies, and more.

Dr. Auld is retiring this year and all of us whose careers he helped build thank him and will miss him greatly.