Introducing our new Editorial Board

The governance structure of the Australian Journal of Primary Health provides for an Editor in Chief, a small Editorial Panel of Associate Editors of the journal, and an Editorial Board. The role of Editor in Chief is currently shared by the two of us – Amanda Kenny, Professor of Rural and Regional Nursing at La Trobe University, and Virginia Lewis, Associate Professor and Director of the Australian Institute of Primary Care and Ageing, also at La Trobe University.

It was decided some time ago that the Editorial Board of the journal should be reviewed regularly. This provides an opportunity to bring in new people with a fresh approach to always keep us thinking. The most recent review has now been completed.

We sincerely thank those Board members who are leaving the Board for the support they have given the journal over many years. We are sure their support will continue in other ways.

This editorial is also an opportunity to welcome our new Board members.

The Editorial Panel is the powerhouse of the journal, carrying the load of providing advice to the Editors in Chief, finding and allocating reviewers to papers and supporting our authors. We introduced readers to our current Associate Editors in 2015 (Vol. 21, Issue 4). Dr Lauren Ball, Professor Sarah Larkins and Dr John Furler continue in these roles. Professor Jacqueline Cumming has stepped down from her role as Associate Editor but will continue in her role as a member of the Editorial Board. We thank Jackie for the work she did in the role of member of the Editorial Panel.

We are very pleased to introduce the new members of the Board:

• Associate Professor Lisa Jamieson, a dentist and Director of the University of Adelaide’s Indigenous Oral Health Unit.

• Professor Sharon Lawn, Director of Flinders Human Behaviour and Health Research Unit in the Department of Psychiatry at Flinders University.

• Professor Jeannie Haggerty, the first McGill Chair in Family and Community Medicine Research, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

• Dr Caroline Morris, a pharmacist and senior lecturer in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice at the University of Otago New Zealand.

• Dr Geoff Spurling, a GP and senior lecturer at the University of Queensland who also works as a general practitioner at Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care and at Inala Primary Care.

The Board now has three previous Editors in Chief of the journal; Professor Hal Swerissen, a Fellow at the Grattan Institute and Emeritus Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, Dr Rae Walker, Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University, and Adjunct Associate Professor Libby Kalucy, the former Director of the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service at Flinders University.

We are also very pleased that the following former members of the Board have agreed to continue:

• Professor Vivian Lin, the Chair of Public Health at La Trobe University and currently based in Manila, as Director of Health Systems Division for the World Health Organization for the Western Pacific Region.

• Elizabeth Halcomb, Professor of Primary Health Care Nursing at the University of Wollongong;

• Philip Davies, who has an extensive background working with governments in Australia and New Zealand and in academia.

• Jacqueline Cumming, Professor in the School of Government and Director, Health Services Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

• Fran Baum, Mathew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Foundation Director of the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity at Flinders University.

• Associate Professor Elizabeth Harris, from University of New South Wales Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity.

• Alan Shiell, Professor of Health Economics at La Trobe University, previously Chief Executive Officer of the Centre of Excellence in Intervention and Prevention Science.

This editorial only provides a brief snapshot of the calibre of our editorial team. The Editorial Board has an important role to play in promoting the journal and encouraging colleagues and others to publish with us. They also represent an important pool of reviewers for journal papers and they are available to provide advice on matters relating to the journal’s strategic direction. We look forward to working with the new Board in continuing the journal’s success into the future.

Mandy and Ginny