Editorial - Volume 21, Issue 2 - March 2019

The IJMSC editorial team is mourning the passing of Dr. Lael Stone on February 4, 2019. Dr. Stone was the second editor in chief of IJMSC. She took over from founding editor Dr. Robert Herndon in 2007 and led the journal through 6 transformative years. During that time, her leadership was instrumental in transferring IJMSC to its current online submission and review system and in making the articles published in IJMSC since 2011 accessible through PubMed Central. These two initiatives, among many others, promoted an unprecedented growth of the journal's scholarly presence in the field of MS care. I had the honor of transitioning into the role of editor in chief in 2014. During that same year, the number of yearly submissions doubled, and our CiteScore increased by 50% (it is now four times higher). These successes are a direct consequence of Dr. Stone's hard work, along with that of her team, Managing Editor Annette Theuring and Project Manager Maria Stadtler. I shared many patients with Lael as a physiatrist in our MS center. I admired her kindness and dedication to her patients' and colleagues' well-being, and I was humbled by her knowledge of every patient's medical and personal issues pertinent to their care. She kindly and patiently trained me for my new role as editor, which she described as a “great way to stretch another area of your brain,” and she ensured that the transition was as seamless as possible. In this issue, you will find testimonials from a few of the many people who were touched by Dr. Stone's dedication to others. We also reproduce a piece published online shortly before her death, in which she provides a fresh perspective on the “think positive” attitude we expect from our patients, drawing from her direct experience as she was battling a fatal illness. More information can also be accessed on the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) website at https://www.mscare.org/news/437286/In-Memoriam-of-Dr.-Lael-Stone.htm.

I apologize to this issue's authors for not highlighting their work as much as usual in my editorial. The articles published in the March/April issue cover a wide spectrum of ages, from adolescents (Sikes and colleagues) to older adults (Bollaert and Motl), and many aspects related to MS care, including physical function (Mañago and colleagues), cognitive function (Stimmel and colleagues), and symptom management (Gupta and colleagues, Mealy and colleagues). The fact that this issue's contents are relevant to multiple disciplines, and are focused on lessening the impact of MS, honors our mission, as well as Dr. Stone's legacy.