Newswise — Joseph Piven, M.D. has been named editor-in-chief of the newly created Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Piven is Sarah Graham Kenan professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and psychology and director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a member of the UNC faculty for the last eight years.
Piven said he approached Springer Publishing with the idea for the journal, after noticing a void in journals currently in the marketplace.
"There is nothing like it in the field," Piven said. "There are journals by discipline and journals by disorder, but nothing that brings together multiple disciplines and multiple disorders."
The primary focus of the journal is on the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders, including treatment studies relevant to understanding pathogenesis. Pathogenesis is the study of the origin and development of a disease or disorder. The journal will provide an interdisciplinary approach to pathogenesis of a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders. Possible examples include cognitive/behavioral, brain systems, genetics and cellular/molecular neurobiological studies in conditions such as fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, autism and fetal alcohol syndrome, Piven said.
The journal's inaugural issue is slated to appear in the first quarter of 2009.
"Overall, my hope is that the journal has a transformative effect on the field and is eventually viewed as a prestigious venue for presentation of important interdisciplinary work," Piven said.
Journal Web site: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/11689
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