It is with great enthusiasm and excitement that I begin my journey as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology (JESEE). My journey cannot begin without a grateful acknowledgment to Dr Edo Pellizzari, the founding editor of the journal, for his 15 years of dedicated service to the journal. Not only did he successfully complete the arduous task of starting a new journal in a competitive field, he worked tirelessly until it was recognized in not one but three important fields related to environmental science.

As you have likely already noticed, the journal has a new name, a new look and now a new Editor-in-Chief – the one thing that will not change is that we will strive to continue publishing high-quality papers you have grown accustomed to reading in our journal. I am appreciative to Dr Pellizzari for bringing the journal to its current status, and I am hopeful that under my direction, we can continue the advancement of the journal. This goal would be impossible if not for the tremendous efforts of our capable Associate Editors, the submission of high-quality manuscripts, and the thoughtful and thorough peer-review process.

Initially, my goal as Editor-in-Chief is to provide a seamless transfer of editorship. Dr Pellizzari has offered great training and advice to provide a smooth transition. Over the years, the journal has become very well known in exposure science. To help serve all areas of this diverse field, the editorial board will be broadened. In addition, we will expand our database of reviewers, and so you should not be surprised if you are invited to review articles in the near future. I plan to further improve the speed at which articles are taken from submission to production in an effort to get important research published in the most timely fashion possible. An improvement of this speed depends largely on the timeliness of the peer-review process, an area upon which we will rely heavily upon our reviewers. We also ask you, whether your field of expertise is epidemiology, methods development, or any other exposure-related field, to encourage your colleagues to submit their high quality research to JESEE.

In the coming months, you will see periodic review articles by noted experts that are of particular interest to our readership. We also plan to broaden the variety of articles for our journal by encouraging submissions on emerging topics such as nanotechnologies, proteomics, and metabonomics.

I look forward to serving as Editor-in-Chief of JESEE. I am grateful to the selection committee for offering me the opportunity to help advance the journal in environmental science. I am also grateful for the encouragement and support of our publisher, Nature Publishing Group (NPG). If you ever have any questions, comments or suggestions to help improve the journal, the quality of manuscripts or any other journal-related matter, feel free to contact me directly.

Let the journey begin.