Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change – Stephen Hawking
Approximately 2500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only constant in life is change”, and it turns out that things are not so different in 2025, especially in academic health centers. The current strategic planning process at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) has not identified Intersections as a priority, and so our journal will lose its WHSC funding at the end of this fiscal year, on August 31. While we are disappointed in this decision, we understand that it is the job of our leaders to consider the big picture and make hard choices.
Despite this news, we have much to be proud of and to look forward to. In the 23 months that we have been up and running we have received 31 submissions and by our 2-year anniversary we expect to have published 30 of them. Those 30 articles include 111 authors representing all three health professions schools and the Emory health care system. Nearly a quarter of our authors have been students and trainees, providing valuable experience in educational scholarship. A manuscript describing our work at Intersections has been accepted for publication in Medical Education in May, and we will present our experience at the AAMC Annual Meeting in November. Our preliminary data shows that our authors have appreciated the ability to publish their work with us and that they feel that the experience has improved their ability to publish future work.
While we are proud of our past, we are also looking forward to our future. Currently we are exploring opportunities within Emory as well as outside of Emory to continue to publish Intersections and to expand our reach in the process.
As we work on defining our future, we want to expressly thank all those who have been part of this innovative and impactful work. We begin with Gary Teal, the former Vice President of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, who saw the benefit of an internal health professions education journal and advocated for WHSC support. We also have a strong Advisory Board that was instrumental in creating the structure of the journal and providing invaluable input throughout the planning and implementation process. This includes Stephanie Bennett, PhD, Andrew Furman, MD, Laura Kimble, PhD, RN, Delia Lang, PhD, MPH, Ulemu Luhanga, PhD, Hugh Stoddard, PhD, and Beth Ann Swan, PhD, RN.
Our interprofessional editorial staff, spanning all WHSC schools, has been a joy to work with, including Associate Editors Laurie Gaydos, PhD, and Roshan George, MD, and Assistant Editors Mike Caudle, PhD, Jose Villalon-Gomez, MD, Erica Marshall-Lee, PhD, ABPP, and Bethany Robertson, DNP. We have also had outstanding Editorial Assistance from Michaela Jenkins, PhD, and administrative support from Maryam Carn, Kelley Taylor, and Jonelle Shield-McKenzie; we are grateful to them all.
And we have particular gratitude to all of our authors and reviewers who have embraced Intersections as an important outlet for their scholarly work and to hone their scholarship skills; we are proud of their work and look forward to seeing their future publications.