A Message from the Editor

In November, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health signed a new agreement with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) to continue publishing Public Health Reports (PHR), as it has done since 1999. The relationship with ASPPH has been good for the journal, but the new agreement provides an important new benefit: an opportunity to modernize.

Dr. Murthy has emphasized the importance of modernizing the journal, a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree.¹ ASPPH has told us that, with the new agreement in place, the association plans to move some of the journal's key publication processes to a large biomedical publishing house. Until now, ASPPH itself has hosted the journal's website, managed subscriptions, and conducted many of the other tasks needed to get a journal out the door. But such in-house publishing has become more difficult. Medical publishing now requires an unprecedented level of expertise and resources in publishing technology. To truly modernize PHR, the journal's key publishing processes must move to a platform with advanced capabilities.

Under the new agreement, ASPPH will remain closely involved in publishing the journal, and we at the Office of the Surgeon General look forward to continuing what has been a beneficial relationship for the journal. To that end, I want to take this opportunity to mention the dedicated work of two people from ASPPH: Erin Williams, publications coordinator, and Allison Foster, deputy executive director. I thank both of them for all they have done, and are doing, to assure the vitality of PHR.

In November, the journal also acquired some new personnel. Sasha M. Ruiz became the new acting managing editor of PHR. She succeeds Julie Keefe, who stepped down from the position in March 2015. Ms. Ruiz comes to PHR from the CDC journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, where she has served as editorial office lead since 2011. The Office of the Surgeon General is working to fill the permanent managing editor position as soon as possible. PHR also welcomed two new members of the editorial committee: Richard S. Kurz, PhD, dean emeritus and adjunct professor, University of North Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health; and Marlynn L. May, PhD, faculty emeritus and director, academic operations, McAllen Campus, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Department of Public Health Services. Before they joined the editorial committee, both were serving as associate editors for the journal.

With the advent of the journal's new volume, 131, I want to acknowledge the work of other contributors who sustain the journal. (For their full credentials and affiliations, please refer to our masthead.) The members of our editorial committee generously give the journal their time and public health wisdom: William Aldis, Joseph H. Bates, Hazel D. Dean, Zygmunt F. Dembek, Russell Kirby, Beth A. Resnick, Philip J. Smith, and Betsy L. Thompson. Contributing Editor Sara Rosenbaum edits the Law and the Public's Health column and Sandra Smith writes the NCHS Dataline column. Our associate editors, who provide their expertise on submissions, include Stephen Bertke, Adele L. Franks, T. Stephen Jones, Mark G. Robson, and David Rosner. I would also like to thank five other associate editors who have made past contributions to the journal: Geoffrey M. Calvert, Sean D. Cleary, Lance E. Rodewald, Adam J. Spanier, and Lorna E. Thorpe.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the invaluable work of our contractors, Lynne Wilcox, consulting editor; Brandi Bryant Baker, production assistant; Jenny Reising and Ellen Taratus, scientific editors; and Capitol Communications, LLC, typesetting and production.

This issue is another hefty one and, as always, the articles cover many and varied topics. Dr. Mary Beth Bigley, a past acting editor of PHR and now with the Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS, writes in our Executive Perspective column about her agency's work to transform public health training. Other articles cover such topics as the role of vaccines against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, high-impact HIV prevention programs by health departments, and public health bioethics. Accompanying this issue is a journal supplement on routine screening for HIV infection in many different medical care settings.