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A Farewell

In a few months I will be 65 years old, acustomary time to retire in this country. Iwill try to spend the rest of my days in var-ious activities including tending to myfamily and personal business interests, but Iwill no longer be engaged in active leprosywork and will no longer have the privilegeof serving as your editor.

Having had the opportunity to work in

the leprosy eld for almost 40 years hasbeen a privilege, a privilege all of us in thiseld share. In addition to the usual perks ofa career that is interesting, challenging, andwith sufcient nancial reimbursement tosupport our families, we are privileged tohave come to know each other. I have cometo know a large number of very dedicatedand very intelligent individuals, and, per-haps most importantly I have come to countthem as friends from all over the world

bound together by the common bond of lep-rosy work.Many of my friends will be continuing to

work in the eld of leprosy. To you I wishevery success in making further contribu-

tions to some of Gods most needy people,leprosy patients.

Many of my friends have left the leprosyeld to pursue other work in science andmedicine. To you I wish every success inmaking contributions to your new elds ofinterest.

Many of my friends have left the leprosyeld and are now retired, as I am about tobe. To you I wish a long and peaceful re-

tirement surrounded by loving family andfriends. Thank you for your many years ofdedicated service.

Lastly, I am of an age that many of my oldfriends in leprosy work are now deceased. Toyou I am grateful that I had the opportunityto know you in this life, and, with GodsGrace, I hope that we can again see each oth-ers faces in another life yet to come.

After 24 years as editor, I will naturallymiss the activities you have allowed me to

carry out all these years. I will miss the con-tacts, directly with my colleagues in thelaboratory, and indirectly with the manycontributors, referees, and fellow ofcersand members of our association. On the

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEPROSYand Other Mycobacterial Diseases

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL LEPROSY ASSOCIATION

EDITORIAL OFFICE

National Hansens Disease Programs

Louisiana State University

Post Ofce Box 25072

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70894, U.S.A.

VOLUME 71, NUMBER 1 MARCH 2003

EDITORIAL

Editorial opinions expressed are those of the writers.

Dr. Robert Hastings Says Farewell to the Journal

22

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEPROSY Volume 71, Number 1Printed in the U.S.A.

(ISSN 0148-916X)

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71, 1 Editorial 23

other hand, I am satised that the journalwill be in good hands with our new editor.He is eminently qualied to carry out theseresponsibilities. He is also the son-in-law ofmy predecessor as editor and my teacher,

Olaf Skinsnes.

To all, may I end with a favorite sayingof another teacher of mine.

GO GET EM TIGERS !

RCH

Dr. Hastings Service to the Journal is

Greatly Appreciated

We are happy to report that with this is-sue of the JOURNAL the editorial transition iscomplete. As Dr. Hastings has noted in his

comments above, the December 2002 issuemarks the completion of his 24 years of ed-itorial service. This long tenure is an excep-tional accomplishment and an outstandingservice to the ILA and the professionalcommunity concerned with research, care,and treatment of Hansens Disease. Thisalso poses daunting challenges to the in-coming editorboth to follow in the foot-steps of such an eminent authority on lep-rosy, and to guide the JOURNAL as we enter

into a new era in our approach to this dis-ease. Thanks to a very diligent and efcientJOURNAL staff, this has been a smooth tran-sition in spite of delays related to the Con-gress Transactions. I can only hope to main-tain the quality of the JOURNAL as well asDr. Hastings has done, and I must ask thesupport of all members of the ILA to main-tain the vitality of the JOURNAL itself.

Dr. Hastings has been a personal friend,mentor, and colleague to many in this eld

including, especially, the new editor. Asingle tribute to his service would not pro-vide an appropriate appreciation of his inci-sive but genial intellect nor of his person-able manner in dealing with so many indi-viduals, both as the editor of the JOURNALand of the text on leprosy. We have there-fore asked several senior investigators inHansens Disease to provide us with briefglimpses into their experience with himduring his extraordinary career. We offerhim our deepest gratitude, and look forwardto his advice and counsel as the EditorEmeritus for many years to come.

David M. Scollard

Tuve la oportunidad de conocer es-trechamente al Dr. Hastings durante miperodo como Presidente de la ILA y del

IJL Corporation, habiendo apreciado en lno solamente su indudable talento como in-vestigador y su magnica labor como Edi-tor del IJL, sino tambin su gran calidadconmo persona. Fue para nosotros unamagnica oportunidad haber tenido un in-tercambio con una personalidad tan desta-cada en el campo de la ciencia.

Jacinto Convit

I have worked with Bob for more than 20years. In particular, I remember discussionswith him as Editor in 1980, on my rst pa-per in the JOURNAL, an editorial: Immuno-logical aspects of leprosy: Ten years ac-tivity at the Armauer Hansen Research In-stitute and prospects for further work [Int.J. Lepr. 48 (1980) 193205]. At the time itwas an important paper for us. Today it il-lustrates the early phase of immunology re-search in leprosy with its far-reaching con-

sequences regarding our understanding andhandling of the disease. In 19831984, itwas in his classic textbook. He contributedto essential revision of Figure 4.3: Thecourse after infection withMycobacteriumleprae, and it became one of my better g-ures through the years. This illustratesBobs deep understanding of leprosy under-lying all his truly extensive work with theJOURNAL. Thanks indeed!

Morten Harboe

I consider it a privilege to pay my tributeto Dr. Robert Hastings on the occasion of

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24 International Journal of Leprosy 2003

his retirement as Editor of theInternationalJournal of Leprosy. I have known Bob as afriend and as a colleague for many years. Dr.Hastings is a brilliant scientist and an ableadministrator. He is mainly responsible for

establishing and expanding the LaboratoryResearch Branch of the National HansensDisease Programs in Baton Rouge, and fordeveloping it as a research center of interna-tional repute. I am one among the many re-search scientists inspired by his leadershipand helped by his scientic expertise. Hisperformance as Editor of the JOURNAL, witha majority of its contributors from develop-ing countries, is exceptional. Without com-promising the quality of the publications, hehelped many young and aspiring researchworkers to publish their ndings in thisprestigious journal. Dr. Hastings also editeda well-written and widely circulated text-book of leprosy. With all these qualities andoutstanding contributions, he is an unassum-ing and humble person easily accessible andreadily available to all who need his help.We, the leprosy workers from every disci-pline, will miss him.

C. K. Job

Until his retirement in 1994 as Chief ofthe Laboratory Research Branch (LRB) atCarville, Bob maintained two separate of-ces; one fore his role as head of the LRBand a second journal ofce where he re-treated at the end of each day, put on a newhat and spent a few hours taking care of theJOURNALs business. He took his responsi-bilities for this thankless job very seriously.I think Bob Hastingss stint as editor of the

IJL should best be remembered for bringingpeer review to the journals pages as for thefair treatment that he afforded to the authorsof submitted manuscripts. Bob especiallyencouraged manuscripts from workers inendemic countries and on more than a fewoccasions manuscripts were received handwritten or comprised of crudely drawngraphics. Rather than reject them outrightBob would have the manuscripts typed andbrought up to a submission standard. To

avoid showing favoritism, a substitute edi-tor always dealt with manuscripts fromworkers in his own LRB. Bob always paidspecial attention to the IJLs Current Liter-ature for readers without access to large

medical libraries and, until recently whenservices like PubMed became readily avail-able, he spent an enormous amount of timecollecting this literature for the JOURNALsreaders. He was passionate in his defense of

the JOURNAL

as a scienti

c journal that isthe ofcial organ of the ILA and I think hisretirement as editor coincides with his per-sonal satisfaction that the future of IJL isassured.

Jim Krahenbuhl

My involvement in leprosy in 1980 coin-cides with the editorship of Dr. Hastingswith theInternational Journal of Leprosy. Ibelieve this has been a very happy coinci-dence, as the JOURNAL is not only very in-formative in leprosy eldwork, but also ondevelopments in closely related elds. I amextremely grateful for the timely publica-tion and meticulous revision of each articleI have submitted. It was my honor to havebeen asked to take Dr. Hastings to do somesightseeing one sunny afternoon during hisbusy schedule in Beijing on one of his tripsfor the 15th ILC. His choice was the Great-wall, and said that only seeing the moun-

tainous landscape from the Greatwallmakes him feel that has really been inChina.

Li Huan-Ying

On this occasion of the retirement of Dr.Hastings as the brilliant editor if theInter-national Journal of Leprosy, I would ex-press my sincere gratitude on behalf of allthe members of the Japanese Leprosy Asso-

ciation. As its general manager I extend, oursincere gratitude for his enormous effortshelping us, especially in looking over arti-cles and abstracts including those for theU.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical ScienceProgram. By infusing his spirits, our effortsbecame very much alive. I also personallyexpress my heartfelt appreciation especiallyin support of our experience on the effectsof Vitamin C to suppress the growth ofM.leprae in human and experimental animals.

His original experiments and publication ofthe article, Activity of Ascorbic Acid in In-hibiting the Multiplication ofM. leprae inthe Mouse Foot Pads, during the timewhen I used to work for the previous editor

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71, 1 Editorial 25

in chief of the IJL, the late Dr. Olaf K. Skin-snes in Hawaii, the father-in-law of the neweditor, Dr. David M. Scollard, was alsogreatly appreciated. Dr. Goro Asano, thecurrent editor in chief of our association,

and his staff join me to express their grati-tude to you again.

Eiichi Matsuo

I am glad for this opportunity to expressmy appreciation and admiration for Bobscontributions to the advancement of the sci-entic understanding of leprosy with the re-sulting improvement of the well being ofthose with leprosy, and for his role in unify-

ing the global efforts of scientists and care-givers working in the ght against the dis-ease. In his soft-spoken friendly way, Bobwas often able to accomplish the near im-possible for the betterment of all in thisght. Our own personal interactions werethe closest during the preparation for andmanagement of the 14th ILA Congress inOrlando in 1993. Bob and his staff con-tributed greatly to the success of the Con-gress, especially in coordinating the scien-tic program and providing much valuedcounsel. As Editor of the IJL, it was Bobsconviction that the ILA must preserve theobjective of the ILA charter, i.e., to publisha scientic journal of leprosy. Congratula-tions, Bob, for your splendid success inachieving this goal even, often, in an at-mosphere of considerable controversy. Withmy warmest best wishes for you and yourbeloved family,

Wayne Meyers

I have been associated with Dr. Hastingsfor many years, particularly as part ofTDR/THELEP and IMMLEP activities andhave greatly admired his extraordinary in-sight into certain aspects of the problem ofleprosy. I found his interactions at TDRmeetings particularly stimulating. Everforthright in expressing his opinions, Dr.Hastings was still able to strike a balancewhere necessary, whether in editing histextbook on leprosy or the JOURNAL. I wishhim the best of retirement.

S. K. Noordeen

Dr. Hastings is known by his knowledgeand expertise on leprosy and his sympathy.He honored me with an invitation to writethe forward to one of the best books aboutleprosy. On several occasions he invited me

to serve as a referee for some of IJLs pa-pers and helped me with his advice for theeditorship of theHansenologia Internation-alis for which I am the Editor. Above all, Iam grateful for the privilege of knowinghim and for having had his friendship.

Diltor Opromolla

It was shortly after Dr. Hastings had be-gun employment at Carville, while I was a

senior staff of

cer there that, while on-call,I entered an order on one of Dr. Bobs pa-tients that did not agree with his treatmentplan. I was impressed to note that he hadthe intellectual integrity and courage toconfront me with his disagreement, and thereasons for it. These qualities served himwell throughout his years of service to lep-rosy patients, in research, and as Editor ofthe JOURNAL.

Roy E. Phaltzgraff

When Dr. Hastings asked two of us clini-cians living on two different continents usedto observing leprosy in different ethnicpopulations to contribute to the section ofclinical aspects of the book, I wonderedwhat the result would be. However, themass of contributions by Roy E. Phaltzgraffand me resulted in a uniform blend withoutany dissent. This speaks volumes of the edi-

torial expertise of Dr. Hastings who onlyonce wrote to me to include a write up onthe evolution of the infection and the spec-trum of immune response. On the whole, thebook on leprosy edited by Dr. Hastings isuseful for all those interested in leprology.

G. Ramu

I rst met Dr. Robert Hastings in theearly 1970s, when, as a neophyte to leprol-

ogy, I attended a course at Carville to in-crease my knowledge of this protean dis-ease. The course was worth while, but moreimportantly, Bobs interest in and supportof my initial investigative activities which

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26 International Journal of Leprosy 2003

we discussed at the lunch table, providedwelcome encouragement to become furtherinvolved with leprosy. Bobs nurturing sup-port of my work, as well as his support forthat of others, continued over the years as

the range of his activities expanded to in-clude the U.S.-Japan Leprosy Panel, textbook editor and of course, his 24 productiveyears as Editor of the IJL. Thank you, Bob,for your many and varied contributions.

Thomas Rea

Generous in his assessment of others andrarely critical, Bob Hastings is one of themost self-effacing people I know. Just a

country boy from the mountains of Ten-nessee is how I once heard him describehimself. Given the scale, depth, and signi-cance of his contributions to the science andpractice of leprology, we can only hope thatmore country boy(s) will follow in hissteps.

Felton Ross

Having been a close associate with Dr.Robert Hastings at Carville for threedecades, it is difcult to relate just one no-table specic incident involving our inter-actionthere were so many! He was not

only a co-worker, but a good friend. Butone incident I shall always remember oc-curred at a meeting of the United States Na-tional Hansens Disease Programs in 1986.Bob was lecturing on the mechanism of ac-tion of Thalidomide on ENL. During hisdiscussion, a high ranking Public HealthService ofcial from Washington leanedover and whispered: How is it possible forany one human being to know so much?Bob wasand isa true genius and a kindand considerate person. Thank you Bob forall you have done. On behalf of millions ofpeople throughout the worldBest Wishesand Good Luck!

John R. Trautman, M.D.

The New Editor

Dr. David M. Scollard, Chief of ResearchPathology, Gillis W. Long Hansens Dis-ease Center at Louisiana State University,Baton Rouge, Louisiana becomes editor ofthis JOURNAL with the rst issue of Vol-ume 71 for 2003.

A native of North Dakota, he attended St.Olaf College in Northeld, Minnesota, par-

ticipated in an exchange program with Chu-lalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thai-land, and completed his premedical studiesat the University of North Dakota School ofMedicine in Grand Forks, North Dakota,with bachelors degrees in chemistry, Eng-lish and medicine. He then attended theUniversity of Chicago Pritzer School ofMedicine, graduating with M.D. and Ph.D.(Pathology) degrees. He is a diplomate ofthe American Board of Pathology.

Dr. Scollard served as a medical residentin the University of Hawaii, was a Lecturerin the Department of Pathology, Universityof Hong Kong, and served as a Visiting As-

sistant Professor in the Department ofPathology, University of Chicago. He thenwas Assistant Professor in the Departmentsof Preventive Medicine and Pathology ofthe Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine atthe University of Illinois and simultane-ously served as Field Director, ChiangMai/Illinois Leprosy Research Project in

Chiang Mai, Thailand. He next served asAssistant and then Associate Professor inthe John A. Burns School of Medicine inthe Departments of Pathology, TropicalMedicine, and Medical Microbiology inHonolulu, Hawaii, before joining theHansens Disease Center at Louisiana StateUniversity in Baton Rouge in 1993. He isalso an Adjunct Associate Professor, De-partment of Pathology, Louisiana StateUniversity Medical Center in New Orleans,

Louisiana.His primary research interests are the

early events in the pathogenesis of leprosy,the mechanisms of reactions, and the mech-

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71, 1 Editorial 27

anisms of nerve injury. He has interests inmedical ethics and has served as chairmanof the Institutional Review Boards of boththe John A. Burns School of Medicine inHawaii and the Womans Hospital in Baton

Rouge.David Scollard is a career leprologist. Hiscredentials and background are impeccable.We are extremely fortunate to have him asthe new editor for our Journal. I wish himevery success and hope that the interna-tional leprosy community will provide himwith their full support.

On a personal level I would like to addthat in 1979 when I became editor I wasintroduced by the editor at that time, Dr.Olaf K. Skinsnes. It is a privilege to havethe opportunity in 2003 to introduce hisson-in-law, David Scollard, as your neweditor.

Robert C. Hastings

Dr. David M. Scollard

The International Journal of Leprosy Goes On-Line

With this issue theInternational Journalof Leprosy is available on-line, beginning anew phase in its long and distinguished ca-reer. At such a juncture it is worthwhile toreect briey on the origins of theInterna-tional Leprosy Association and this JOUR-NAL, to consider where we have come fromas a guide to where we are going.

At the JOURNALs birth in 1933, its found-

ing editor, Dr. Wade, was working in what to-day would be considered near isolation, inthe large leprosarium at Coulion in the Philip-pines, where more than a thousand patientslived. The JOURNAL was edited there formany yearswithout air conditioning, com-puters, telephone communication, or the in-ternet. Leprosy was an incurable diseasegreatly feared even in medical circles, and themen and women who worked with patientsand struggled to understand this disease were

a dedicated lot indeed. Such isolation alsomeant a scarcity of information about recentdevelopments in medicine, which had to waitlong months while books and journals trav-

eled by sea, then overland (often part of theway on pack animals) to reach the isolatedhospitals. When Dr. Wade started the JOUR-NAL, its explicit mission was to alleviate thisdearth of current information.

Then, as now, those who worked on lep-rosy would not be motivated by the moreconventional desires for fame, fortune, orpower, since leprosy work is a pursuit most

unlikely to lead to any of these. Rather, themany persons who have dedicated majorportions of their careers to work on this dis-ease and its victims, and whose names canbe found within the pages of this JOURNALover the last seven decades, have been mo-tivated by mixtures of altruism, burning cu-riosity, religious zeal, and just plain stub-bornness in pursuit of this disease. (Asthose who have attended the InternationalCongresses will attest, the ILA contains a

collection of very colorful characters.)These factors matter, because the attrib-

utes of altruism, curiosity, etc. are likely tobe characteristic of those who carry this

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28 International Journal of Leprosy 2003

work forward in the 21st century, as well,even with improved treatment and betterunderstanding of this disease.

During the middle decades of the 20thcentury the JOURNAL played an important

part in disseminating important medical andscientic information about leprosy to thosein the eld as well as to scientists in re-search laboratories around the world.

Dapsone was discovered to cure this dis-ease, giving health and hope to thousandsupon thousands of patients around theworld.

Terminology became more standardized,with the concept of an immunopathologicspectrum of host response at its epicenter,

enabling effective communication betweenphysicians and scientists everywhere. An increasing number of scientists in en-

demic countries were trained, who werethen able to take basic research to thebedside.

Surgical and rehabilitation techniqueswere developed that enabled patients tolive more productive lives.

M. leprae were discovered to proliferatein the footpads of mice, leading to majoradvances in the testing of potential newtherapeutic agents.

Scientic tools became more sophisti-cated:

Experimental infections of armadillos, andthe resulting mass production of bacilli inarmadillo colonies, enabled laboratoriesfar removed from leprosy clinics to study,for example, the morphology, biochem-istry, immunology, physiology, and ulti-mately the genetics ofM. leprae, and to

examine immune responses to its antigenswith animal models and cloned cells.

Monoclonal antibodies and recombinantcytokines were applied to studies of hu-man lesions as well as animal models.

Application of molecular technology hasmade the identication ofM. leprae DNAin clinical specimens a feasible, reliableadjunct to diagnosis in difcult cases, anda further tool for epidemiologic research.

All experienced readers of this Journalwill add many examples to this list andmany other contributions to each category.Some of these developments have been re-ported directly as original papers in this

Journal, and the others have been abstractedin its Current Literature section. Today, ad-vanced research in leprosy is the subject ofreports in the most prestigious medical andscientic journals in the world, employing

technology and terminology beyond thewildest imaginings of Dr. Wade and his col-leagues in the 1930s. Leprosy work hascome a long, long way from its days of onlysupportive treatment and dogged researchin isolated, under-equipped hospitals.

Leprosy is certainly not conquered, how-ever, and a great deal of work remains to bedone. This was emphasized in the ILATech-nical Forum published in the JOURNAL oneyear ago, in the Resolution of the 16th Inter-national Leprosy Congress published in thelast issue, and in the forums and seminars ofthe Congress that will be reported in moredetail in this and subsequent issues, as wellas in the discussions of the WHO ExpertCommittee that met in Geneva recently.

Those who undertake leprosy work todayalso face substantial information challenges,however, albeit of a very different kind. Med-ical and scientic information is now abun-dant, instantaneous, and overwhelming. Sort-ing it out, understanding the sophisticated

techniques being used to dissect the patho-genesis of leprosy at the molecular and ge-netic levels, and learning how to apply thisknowledge to the patient in the clinic are for-midable challenges. Agoal of the JOURNAL inthe years ahead is to assist in these tasks. Wewill continue to do this through the familiarfeatures of the JOURNALits Original Arti-cles, Current Literature, and Correspond-enceand we hope to add features to furtherassist readers in the compilation and compre-

hension of the surfeit of medical and scien-tic knowledge that bear on our work. Theavailability of the JOURNAL on-line, in a for-mat that facilitates immediate access to citedpapers in other journals, will continue tomake it a prime resource for reliable, authori-tative information about all aspects of leprosy.

As this is written the new web-site for theILA is being completed. Please visit our siteat http://www.leprosy-ILA.org. This pro-vides the most convenient access to the

JOURNAL on-line. You can also renew yourmembership, or join if you are not already amember of the ILA.

DMS