We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Martin Schweiger has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease" in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease (JCDD, ISSN: 2308-3425).

Prof. Dr. Martin Schweiger is a Professor of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at the Pediatric Heart Center of the University Children’s Hospital Zurich. He leads the mechanical circulatory support program at his institution. Prof. Dr. Martin Schweiger's research interests are congenital cardiac surgery, especially aortic valve reconstruction, tissue engineering, heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices. He has served on several editorial journal boards, including the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation and Pediatric Transplantation.

He also serves in leadership roles for various professional organizations, including ISHLT (International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation), EACTS (European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery) and ESOT (European Society for Organ Transplantation).  

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Martin Schweiger, who shared his vision for the Section with us as well as his views on the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take on the role of its Section Editor-in-Chief?

Of course, the passion for the field, strong interest in congenital heart disease and wishes to contribute to research, development and understanding in this area. I have a considerable amount of expertise and experience in the field, having conducted significant research, published extensively and contributed to the scientific community in different ways. I have had the pleasure to serve on several Editorial Boards of different journals. As Section Editor-in-Chief, I think you may shape the direction and quality of research published even more, ensuring that important discoveries and advancements receive appropriate attention.

2. What is your vision for the journal?

The journal will celebrate its 10th birthday soon and has proved to be a successful player in the landscape of medical journals. My vision for the further direction of the journal is advancing the understanding of cardiovascular disease and promoting new developments and trends which lead to high-quality research findings. For that, I would like to encourage especially young and female researchers to submit their valuable original work.

Further, I would like to facilitate collaborations among researchers, clinicians and industrial partners in order to improve the diagnosis, treatment and, if possible, prevention of congenital heart defects.        

All these factors I believe will be key to the further growth of the journal in the future. I am sure that the infrastructure of the JCDD will help to achieve these goals. The journal has a newly appointed super-motivated Editor-in-Chief, fabulous managing staff, an excellent Editorial Board and well-known Guest Editors for Special Issues.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

The area of cardiovascular disease represents a striking field of science, which cannot be overseen by an individual research group alone. Within that scientific field, congenital heart defects maybe represent one of the biggest growth potentials in terms of research. It includes heart development before birth, in the newborn and throughout adulthood. It involves professionals in basic science with questions like the role of the different cell lineages that make up the heart, as well as clinicians with its diagnostics (i.e., fetal echocardiography) and further treatment options. I think this highlights that collaborations among different highly specified medical professionals, sharing data and an open access policy are needed for further advancement in the field. Last but not least, we should be able to develop new techniques and hybrid procedures with our industrial partners.

4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?

I strongly believe in open source, open information, and open access and I am convinced they will take center stage. Data sharing among different research groups has led to huge advancements in every field of research. While many universities in Europe allow access and reading of most research articles instantaneously on an institutional license, this is not the reality in many parts of the world, especially in a developing country. This hinders overarching global collaborations as well as education and information for the public. For all these reasons, I think open access benefits researchers, institutions, and also society as a whole.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Martin Schweiger as Section Editor-in-Chief of “Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership.