SPOTLIGHT
Dr . Berenbaum with her husband and daughter at the 2014 National Medal of Science ceremony at the White House .
Dr . Berliner ( third from left ) on a recent trip with her family to Mt . Desert Island , Maine .
National Academy of Sciences . When I got the phone call notifying me , I almost hung up – I thought it was some cruel and very esoteric joke at my expense . Whatever the organization asked me to do , I did it . In 2018 , much to my shock , amazement , and delight , the journal asked if I was interested in being editor-in-chief . I started officially in the position in January 2019 , and it has been an amazing experience and an incredible education .
I was initially nervous because of the experiences some women have had in positions of leadership , but I don ’ t have many horror stories , fortunately .
Dr . Berliner : Medicine is different . I was on the editorial board of Blood quite early . I still remember a meeting where the new editor-in-chief of Blood was asked to comment on the fact that the associate editors he appointed were all men . He said he knew that was going to be unpopular , but there weren ’ t any suitable women to ask . I was sitting across the table with Nancy Andrews , MD , PhD , one of the leading scientists of her generation . We looked at each other quizzically , but didn ’ t say anything . It was a different era , but then I thought , “ Well , maybe I ’ d like to be an associate editor of Blood .”
When Bob Löwenberg , MD , became the editorin-chief of Blood , I emailed him and said , “ If you ’ re looking for an associate editor for white blood cell content , I ’ d be interested .” We had breakfast at the American Society of Hematology ( ASH ) annual meeting that year and he said , “ I don ’ t want you to be an associate editor . I want you to be my deputy editor .” For the first year and a half , I got up every day and wondered , What did I get myself into ? Then something clicked and I started to enjoy it . A couple years ago , I applied to be the editor-in-chief .
What do you enjoy about serving in these roles ? Dr . Berenbaum : I most enjoy the opportunity to write editorials that people actually read and that might influence their thinking about science in general .
Dr . Berliner : One of the most fun aspects in my position is putting together review series and viewpoint articles . I enjoy when we get to put our heads together every year and try to come up with new topics for people to learn about . Now , it ’ s become easier because everybody wants to publish in Blood . I also like the fact that I see almost everything that goes in the journal .
Dr . Berenbaum : I can ’ t say the same . We get more than 20,000 submissions a year . It would be impossible for me to read everything .
As editors-in-chief , how do you handle difficult editorial decisions ? Dr . Berliner : We implemented online “ chat rooms ” that allow our associate editors to converse and be assured that they are making consistent and well-considered decisions .
Dr . Berenbaum : The publishing world is changing , in some ways for the better and in some disappointing ways . We just hired a staff member who ’ s overseeing ethics and image manipulation . Our editorial board members are members of the National Academy of Sciences ( NAS ). When there is any kind of scientific question , we have the experts to answer them . I have great confidence in them . Every paper we publish represents a judgment by a member of NAS , so I could not ask for better backup .
I will say that we are limited in our representation of women and minorities because our pool is limited and reflects the composition of the NAS membership . We are trying to diversify within those limitations , but we can only do that at the rate at which the Academy diversifies . The Academy is making all kinds of efforts , but this is an organization that began in 1863 – there ’ s a lot of inertia . To accelerate that progress , we ’ ve also identified other forms of underrepresentation on our editorial board , including geographic underrepresentation and institutional underrepresentation . We ’ re trying to diversify geographically because , frankly , scientific challenges differ with geographic location .
Dr . Berliner : It ’ s not quite as difficult for us to get women on the editorial board , which makes it more embarrassing that we had to make a concerted effort to diversify . Last year , we set a benchmark that the makeup of the editorial board had to match that of the ASH membership . We were very aggressive about recruiting women to the board . We ’ re at about 40 % now , with which we are very pleased . We are also conscious of which reviewers are asked to write commentaries for articles designated for comment and have made a real effort to increase the representation of women in that group . I have to say , though , that it has proven difficult to get solid statistics about the diversity breakdown because
Dr . Berenbaum during her freshman year at Yale , with her brother Alan , a Class of 1973 graduate .
the baseline information on gender is not generally available in our database .
Dr . Berenbaum : That baseline information is critical because you can ’ t tell what progress you ’ re making if you don ’ t know what your starting point was . In some ways , I don ’ t think people were aware of the magnitude of the problem until making an effort to get the metrics . It is clear that , after multiple studies , including by the National Academies of Science , Engineering , and Medicine , barriers for women and underrepresented minorities exist . There is no single , easy fix to remedy those issues , but diversity is important to the quality of the science . When we were starting out , I don ’ t think that concept even crossed anybody ’ s mind .
Dr . Berliner : I went to high school during the beginning of the second women ’ s movement . I always assumed that , by the time I had finished my education and was a professional , equality for women would be taken care of . That just goes to show how naive I was in high school . Today , the paradigm of medicine is still male . Anything that deviates from that paradigm is immediately suspect , which is not to anyone ’ s advantage , especially the patients .
Dr . Berenbaum : That ’ s true even with model organisms . How many medical studies have been done with exclusively male rats ? Results of such studies are highly constrained . Change has been incremental and slow , but the change that has occurred is promising . Raising awareness and sharing knowledge are the most important things . We are both in the business of disseminating evidence-based knowledge , and it ’ s an honor and a privilege to be in that business . ●
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