In an upcoming issue of Advances in Skin & Wound Care, we will unveil a revised Editorial Board page that will reflect changes to both the journal's editorial advisory board and its peer review panel. The journal's editorial staff is excited to add so many distinguished members of the wound care community to its board and panel. We look forward to working together to bring our readers the most dynamic research articles and continuing education activities as possible.
In recognition of these changes, I would like to introduce you to some of our new editorial advisory board members in upcoming editorials throughout the year. This month, however, I want to take the opportunity to showcase an editorial advisory board member who has been with the journal for several years now and will continue to offer her expertise. She has also made significant achievements in the areas of both occupational therapy and wound care. Let me introduce Florence Clark, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA.
Dr Clark is vice president of the American Occupational Therapy Association, and also serves as the associate dean, chair, and professor in the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. As an occcupational scientist and a skilled researcher, Dr Clark is internationally recognized for her innovations in measuring functional life skills in persons with chronic disabling conditions in general and, specifically, in those with chronic wounds. Her demonstrated interest in chronic wounds and pressure ulcers are exemplified by her recent prestigious publications and robust grant funding. Dr Clark was recently awarded a 5-year grant funded by the National Institutes of Health, totaling $2,882,372, to conduct a randomized controlled trial for empowering participants to implement health-promoting measures that can prevent pressure ulcer formation. A total of 160 spinal cord patients will be recruited and randomly assigned to either a 12-month intervention or a standard-care control group. The basis for the current trial was a previously funded study called the Pressure Ulcer Prevention Study, nicknamed "PUPS."
The results of Dr Clark's work underscore the significant degree of complexity and individualization that characterize the emergence of pressure ulcers in daily-life contexts. Prevention efforts should therefore incorporate attention to the unique constellation of circumstances that comprise a person's everyday life.
Dr Clark has served in numerous national leadership positions; she has served as special consultant to the US Army Surgeon General and on the board of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research. She also was the recipient of an Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) highest academic honor. In 1999, AOTA honored Dr Clark with its Award of Merit. She also received a lifetime achievement award from the Occupational Therapy Association of California in 2001.
I want to personally thank Dr Clark for continuing to serve on the editorial advisory board of Advances in Skin & Wound Care.
Richard "Sal" Salcido, MD
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