I have long valued the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention (JCRP). Initially, as an author, my first publication in the Journal was in 1989 when the name was the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation (JCR), and since that time I have contributed 28 additional articles. I have also supported the Journal as a reviewer over the past 30+ yr. My involvement with the Journal increased in 1999 when I began serving on the Editorial Board. I accepted an appointment as an Associate Editor in 2013 and then began serving as the Associate Editor-in Chief in 2017-2018. I have been honored to serve JCRP as the Editor-in Chief for the past 5 years and will complete my term at the end of 2023.

It has been remarkable to see the growth of the Journal since it was launched by Co-Editors-in-Chief Vic Froelicher and Mike Pollock in 1980. Each subsequent Editor-in-Chief (Kathy Berra, Gary Balady, Phil Ades, Barry Franklin, Mark Williams, and Larry Hamm) contributed to evolving the Journal to enhance its goal of improving multidisciplinary clinical practice and expanding the research evidence specific to cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation, as well as prevention of cardiopulmonary diseases. I have been privileged to build on the solid foundation laid by these individuals. During the past 5 years, our Editorial team has continued to enhance and advance the Journal. Among the changes made were expanding our Editorial staff by creating positions for a Statistical Editor and a Digital Media Editor; changing a manuscript category from Brief Reports to Research Letters; creating new categories for Rapid Reviews and Infographics; sunsetting the Literature Update feature in each issue and replacing it with Invited Editorials; adding a Key Perspectives summary for each article; and making a number of upgrades to the Journal's website and social media presence on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram, including the introduction of Visual Abstracts. During this time, we also have significantly shortened manuscript processing times for authors to receive a first decision.

I am very pleased to announce that Todd M. Brown, MD, MSPH, will be the new Editor-in-Chief as of January 1, 2024. Todd is the current Associate Editor-in-Chief and has also served the Journal as a reviewer and as a member of the Editorial Board. He is a Professor of Medicine in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, where he serves as the Medical Director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, Director of Outpatient Cardiology Services, and Associate Program Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he is actively involved in research focusing on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular diseases including studying the utilization and benefits of cardiac rehabilitation. Dr Brown has served on numerous AACVPR, AHA, and ACC committees and was AACVPR President from 2017-2018. Todd and I have been working on this transition much of this year, and I have every confidence that Todd will do an outstanding job of leading the Journal in the years ahead. Congratulations to Todd.

There are many people I would like to thank for their efforts and support during the past 5 years. While I will not be able to mention all here, I do want to express my appreciation to the following: Mollie Corbett, the AACVPR Board Executive Director, and her predecessor Megan Cohen, and the AACVPR Board for their strong support of the Journal; Chelsea Neve, our Senior Publisher at Wolters Kluwer Health, and her predecessor Andrea Allison-Williams, and their staff led by our Production Editors Kevin Brosky, Jen Leedom, and Brittney Patrick; my predecessor Larry Hamm for all his guidance and ongoing support; our insightful JCRP Editorial Board, with special thanks to Chip Lavie for his editor's advice; all the authors who submitted their research work to JCRP; our expert reviewers; and the dedicated JCRP Editorial team members I was fortunate to work with including Associate Editors Theresa Beckie, Michael Berry, Brian Carlin, Jerry Fleg, Sherry Grace, Joel Hughes, Bonnie Sanderson, Patrick Savage, Ray Squires, Dan Stevens, and Jim Stone and Literature Update Editors Pete Brubaker and Sanjay Kalra, Digital Media Editor Brittany Overstreet, Statistical Editor Holmes Finch, and Content Editor Mary Kaminsky. Finally, I am especially thankful to the work of our outstanding Managing Editor, Kate Maude. Kate has been a tremendous support to me as well as to all who interact with the Journal including the authors, reviewers, editorial team, and publisher. Kate has been instrumental in facilitating all the improvements made by the Journal in the past 5 years. I have truly been blessed and have enjoyed working with this outstanding group of professionals who make up the JCRP team.