Catherine De Angelis, vice dean for academic affairs and faculty and professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine, is the new editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association and editor in chief of AMA's Division of Scientific Information and Multimedia.

The announcement was made Friday, Oct. 7, by Roger N. Rosenberg, chair of the JAMA Editor Search Committee and editor in chief of the AMA's Archives of Neurology; E. Ratcliffe Anderson Jr., executive vice president and CEO of the AMA; and D. Ted Lewers, chair of the AMA board of trustees.

"Dr. Catherine D. De Angelis received the unanimous recommendation of the search committee, the AMA administration and the AMA board of trustees," Rosenberg said. "We are thrilled and excited to have Dr. De Angelis as our new editor. She represents the very best in medicine. Her background includes all of the elements we were seeking. She is a distinguished physician-scientist, educator, experienced chief editor and has evidenced vision and creativity in her tenure as editor in chief of the AMA's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine and in all aspects of her clinical and academic career."

De Angelis will be the 15th editor of JAMA and is the first woman to be editor in the journal's 116-year history. Since 1993, she has been editor in chief for the AMA's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the oldest, continuously published pediatric journal in the United States, and has been a member of the editorial board of JAMA.

De Angelis brings to her new position more than 30 years of experience participating in the peer-review process as an author, reviewer or editor. She also offers years of leadership experience at the University of Wisconsin, where she was the founding director of the Division of General Pediatrics, and at JHMI, as the deputy chair and residency director of the Department of Pediatrics as well as her current position.

De Angelis says she plans to continue the JAMA's tradition of publishing timely, quality, peer-reviewed scientific studies. "The information that JAMA publishes will ultimately result in better health for people around the world," she said.

As editor in chief, De Angelis will report to the seven-member Journal Oversight Committee regarding all editorial matters, and she will report to the executive vice president regarding all business matters.

JAMA is published 48 times a year, and its circulation of 360,000 in 148 countries is the largest of any English-language medical journal. JAMA also has 17 international editions in 12 languages distributed in 43 countries to more that 390,000 recipients.

As editor in chief of AMA's Division of Scientific Information and Multimedia, De Angelis will also provide leadership for the AMA's Archives Journals and the Web site for AMA's journals.

She will assume her new post Jan. 1, 2000.