Abstract
Nearly 3 years ago, as we began our tenure as Co-Editors-in-Chief, we announced a change in our journal name to Community Health Equity Research and Policy (CHERP) and outlined our vision for transforming our journal focus and emphases. We knew that this transition would take some time, and would include important steps like getting the word out about our new foci and priorities, securing high quality reviewers for manuscripts and overall improvements to the review process, and recruiting and working with an active Editorial Board. We have been encouraged to see how quickly others in the field embraced our new vision and received much positive feedback from authors and reviewers, many of whom had never submitted to or reviewed for this journal previously. Over time, we have seen our new vision for the journal take hold, as the articles we oversaw came into print. And now we are happy to announce that we have recruited a new slate of Editorial Board members, which signifies a huge leap forward in institutionalizing the journal’s new direction.
We are very honored to have 17 new Editorial Board members join us in 2024, representing a diverse array of backgrounds and expertise. Their affiliations and degrees can be found our website [Editorial Board: Community Health Equity Research & Policy: Sage Journals (sagepub.com)], but we list all their names here, in alphabetical order, in recognition of their great service to our journal and their professions more generally: Mona AuYoung, Chris Barcelos, Sara E. Baumann, Jannette Berkley-Patton, Lisa Cacari-Stone, Laura Faherty, Alice Fiddian-Green, Daniel López-Cevallos, Meredith Manze, Airín D. Martínez, Claudia Mitchell, Marty Otañez, Kartika Palar, Jeffrey Peterson, Jessica Ruglis, Luis Valdez, and Deshira Wallace.
Collectively, our Editorial Board reflects all the key priorities we outlined in our editorial 3 years ago about our new vision. First, they bring tremendous expertise and experience with issues related to health equity across a broad range of geographies and populations. Second, their expertise encompasses issues related to global health as well as research with communities in the U.S. experiencing health inequalities. Third, our Editorial Board members appreciate environmental and structural changes as long-lasting solutions to addressing inequities and prioritize community-partnered and participatory approaches to understanding and addressing health inequalities. And finally, our Board members’ methodological expertise spans qualitative and quantitative approaches as well as community-driven policy and multi-level interventions and implementation evaluation.
We greatly appreciate our Editorial Board members’ commitment to CHERP and their partnership in seeking to grow the journal’s reach and influence in the field of health equity. We know that their involvement will enhance many aspects of the journal – including increasing our pool of dedicated reviewers, advising us on revisions to article formats and priorities, keeping us abreast of important topical and methodological innovations around health equity research and policy, and expanding our network of authors and readers. We look forward to advancing the field of mixed methods health equity research and policy with our Editorial Board guiding the way.