Advances at Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy

In 2003, Drs James Marks and Lynne Wilcox began developing a plan to realize their vision of creating a scholarly journal that would strengthen the links connecting public health research, practice, and policy with regard to chronic diseases. Their vision resulted in the publication the following year of Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy (PCD). As we start our 10th year of publication, we can reflect on what has been accomplished and what might be on the horizon. In the accompanying editorial, Dr Wilcox describes the importance of the journal’s focus on chronic disease in 2004 and highlights some of the early milestones in the journal’s development (1). One of the core drivers for starting PCD was the recognition that the field of public health would benefit from an open access forum for sharing successes and lessons learned in order to increase the quality, relevance, and effectiveness of our efforts and to improve their efficiency. The journal’s focus on chronic conditions and its commitment to providing a forum for sharing best practices and innovations is just as important today as it was a decade ago, and will increasingly be so in the future.