In this issue, we continue the celebration around the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics’ 50th anniversary with the publication of the symposium “Commercial Speech and Commercial Determinants of Health,” guest-edited by Amandine Garde and Oscar A. Cabrera. In this collection, the editors make the case that while “states around the globe have sought to implement legal and policy measures to restrict or prohibit the marketing and advertising of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food and beverages, corporate actors have developed a wide range of tactics to delay and defer the creation and implementation of such measures.” In other words, the editors and their team of international authors, spanning a wide array of nations, nationalities, and backgrounds, explore the tensions between creating a healthy society and issues around freedom of expression and speech. The findings are fascinating. We hope our readers and members enjoy the collection, along with our usual independent articles, commentaries, columns, and a separate supplementary symposium, “Financing and Delivering Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to End the HIV Epidemic,” guest edited by Jeremiah Johnson, Amy Killelea, Derek T. Dangerfield II, Chris Beyrer, and Joshua M. Sharfstein. At the very least, we are satisfied we have given our readers enough to read for the next few months.
This anniversary also gives us a moment to reflect on some of the most important contributors to JLME’s history. In this letter we would like to take a moment to thank the many great scholars who have served as Editors-in-Chief of the Journal, a long and distinguished list that includes some of the finest minds in health law, medicine, and ethics. Our Editors-in-Chief over the last fifty years include George Annas, Edward Doudera, Miles Zaremski, Barry Furrow, Larry Gostin, Steven Miles, Karen Rothenberg, Ellen Wright Clayton, Bernard Lo, Kathleen Boozang, Sandra Johnson, Ana Iltis, Kevin Outerson, and our current EIC, the peerless Aaron Kesselheim. Each of our Editors-in-Chief share many traits, including intellectual curiosity, a desire to serve their academic field, and above all a deep commitment to publishing and disseminating important academic work. Their steady leadership has provided the Journal with a sense of direction and purpose over the last fifty years, as we continually use our publications as a tool to ask new questions of new scholars. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics would not be the preeminent publication it is without the hard work and dedication of the many great Editors-in-Chief who have served for over half a century, and we thank each and everyone of them for their work, their service, and their commitment to making the world a little bit of a better place.
