We are pleased to announce that Dr. Jacob Lorenzo-Morales has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Parasitic Pathogens” in Pathogens (ISSN: 2076-0817). With his extensive background in scientific research and publishing, he will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this prestigious role.

Dr. Jacob Lorenzo-Morales graduated from the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of La Laguna (ULL), Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain in 2001. He was granted a Ph.D. degree in parasitology from the same university in 2006. Since then, he has been working on water-borne and zoonotic diseases (mainly protozoa) in different institutions such as the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, United Kingdom. Currently he is working as the Senior Researcher at the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, ULL. His interests and areas of research include epidemiology, molecular biology and therapy against emerging pathogens such as free-living amoebae and zoonotic parasites, and vector control.

Dr. Jacob Lorenzo Morales has been working on free-living amoebae (FLA) for the last ten years. His main research field focuses on the Acanthamoeba genus, where he is trying to identify potential targets using siRNA to develop novel therapeutic approaches against this pathogen. Other FLA that he works on include Balamuthia mandrillaris, Sappinia, and Naegleria fowleri, all of which have the ability to cause fatal encephalitis in humans and other animals. During the past few years, he has been working on the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the elucidation of novel antiviral devices and agents. With more than 15 years of experience in tropical diseases and emerging pathogen diagnosis and treatment, Dr. Jacob Lorenzo Morales presents an h-index of 41 with more than 6800 cites, with this being more than 3900 after the year 2019. He has published more than 250 articles in JCR-indexed journals in the fields of tropical medicine, parasitology, and protozoology, and has presented more than 300 communications at national and international congresses.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, who shared his vision for the journal 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 the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
Pathogens is becoming a highly respected journal in the field of parasitology and emerging diseases. I was delighted to be offered this opportunity since parasitic and tropical diseases are still highly neglected and the chance of this journal to gather contributions in the field is a challenge I am prepared to take.

2. What is your vision for the journal?
The journal’s rank is currently a Q2, I am aiming to get it to a Q1 position to be able to reach the most parasitologists in the world to ask them to submit contributions to this journal to get it to be a key one in the field. We will be working on increasing the impact factor, the number of submissions and the Editorial Board, so scientists worldwide feel like this is their journal.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Parasitic and vector-borne diseases are increasing worldwide due to climate change and globalization. These diseases were neglected and in the incoming years they will become pathologies of global concern. Hence, the future of this research is good but there is still a lot of work to be done.

4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?
Open access is the way to go, research needs to be publicly accessible. Unfortunately, open access is costly. I think the way Pathogens and MDPI are working on open access is the way to go, charges apply, but at least the review process is fast (always following strict reviewing rules) and authors can publish their results without having to wait a long period.

I have been working with the staff in charge of the editorial department to offer waivers, discounts, and ease publication in open access in Pathogens, and the feedback is good. Nevertheless, as I said, open access is the way science should go.

We warmly welcome Dr. Jacob Lorenzo-Morales as the Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Parasitic Pathogens”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership.