Salute to Our Founding Editor

At an editorial board meting in January, Dr. Strauch is presented with a plaque by Dr. Daniel Schiff, Vice President and Publisher Journals, Thieme, to commemorate his achievement with the journal.

People make contributions in many ways. The contributions most of us make to our sphere of activity are unifocal and unifaceted. In the field of reconstructive microsurgery, there are enough star players to fill a “Hall of Fame.” Names like Buncke, O'Brien, Harii, and Tamai represent our pioneers, and there are many others. All of these individuals have made monumental contributions and have helped develop this exciting field for the following generations.

Among all the pioneers, there is one who deserves to be singled out and some of his contributions acknowledged. That individual is the founder and Editor in Chief of this journal, Dr. Berish Strauch. Like many of the pioneers, Dr. Strauch has made major contributions to the field. His bibliography contains over 100 peer-reviewed publications as well as the three-volume Grabb's Encyclopedia of Flaps (with Drs. Vasconez and Hall-Findley), the Atlas of Microvascular Surgery: Anatomy and Operative Approaches (with Dr. Yu), the Atlas of Hand Anatomy and Clinical Implications (with Drs. Yu and Chase) and the Symposium on Microsurgery (with Dr. Daniller).

In the arena of organized medicine, Dr. Strauch was a founding member and later President of the International Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery and the American Society for Peripheral Nerve, and he served as president of the New York Society for Surgery of the Hand. He also had the prescience to organize the first meeting of what would become the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery and served as the first president of that organization. I think you'll agree that such a long list of contributions to the science, communication, and organization of our subspecialty is unprecedented, a truly multifocal and multifaceted contribution.

You are currently reading Volume 23, Number 3 of the Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery. This journal is in the 23rd year of its existence, and a look at the table of contents of this issue, or indeed any previous issue, bears testament to the fact that this truly is an international journal. It is a major means of communication for the global microsurgical community. Dr. Strauch had the foresight to establish this journal and with his Associate Editor, Dr. Lee Landers, ran the journal out of his office in the Bronx since its inception. With Dr. Landers' retirement in December, Dr. Strauch made the decision to step down as Editor-in-Chief and give the journal to the society he founded, the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery. This will be the last issue listing Dr. Strauch as Editor-in-Chief. I think we all owe him an enormous debt. Dr. Strauch will be maintaining his interest in the journal as Editor Emeritus, and I know that I will certainly be calling on him for advice and direction. I feel very fortunate to have been chosen to succeed Dr. Strauch as Editor-in-Chief, but I take on the job with the realization that his act will be impossible to follow. Thank you, Dr. Strauch, on behalf of us all.