Dear Colleagues,

I hope you are all enjoying a happy and healthy new year and are looking forward to the upcoming spring season!

The year 2016 was an excellent one for Women’s Healthcare: A Clinical Journal for NPs. Our feature-length articles, as well as our shorter department articles, covered a wide variety of topics important to women’s health. I heartily thank all the authors who wrote articles published in 2016. I also extend a special thank-you to the individuals who peer-reviewed manuscripts for us in 2016. The work of these peer reviewers helps ensure that the articles we publish are the very best:

Kelly Ackerson
Carola Bruflat
Lorraine Byrnes
Joyce Cappiello
Stefani Davis
Melanie Deal
Brenda Deeser
Rebecca Fay
Lauren Hansen
Beth Kutler
Patrice Malena
Anne Moore
Ginny Moore
Charlotte Peavie
Heather Quaile
Suzy Reiter
Beth Steinfeld
Joyce Tow

In addition, I want to recognize Joyce Cappiello and Michele R. Davidson, who are leaving our Editorial Advisory Board. I thank both of them for the important contributions that they have made to our journal. And I am pleased to welcome Barb Dehn and and Amy Levi as new members of the advisory board.

We have other accomplishments to celebrate as well, with four NPWH position statements approved by the board of directors in the past year:

• The Doctor of Nursing Practice for Women’s Health Nurse Practitioners

• Prevention of Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancies

• Prevention and Management of Opioid Misuse and Opioid Use Disorder Among Women Across the Lifespan

• Human Sex Trafficking

The writing group members for these NPWH position statements deserve special recognition. I extend a huge thank-you to these individuals for the time and hard work they contributed to make our position statements robust and relevant to NPs who provide healthcare to women:

Diana Drake
Megan Fredericksen
Aimee Chism Holland
Debra Ilchak
Sue Kendig
Ginny Moore
Sylvia Poe-Valesco
Stephanie Pott
Ursula Pritham
Susan Rawlins
Amanda Reynolds
Rebecca Sarabia
Diane Schadewald

I also thank all the individuals who reviewed the position statements and those who provided feedback as part of the public comment process.

Now, as we begin a brand-new year of publication of the journal, we have many outstanding articles in store for you. As always, we invite you to help us to maintain our momentum by submitting a manuscript in one of the multiple formats offered.

In case you need some topic ideas to get you started, I have some suggestions. Consider writing about bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, bariatric surgery, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease, or ulcerative colitis—from a women’s health perspective, of course—or about endometriosis, genital herpes, vaginal infections, breastfeeding issues, or autoimmune disorders in pregnancy.

Click here or visit our journal website to access our complete Guidelines for Authors. We welcome query letters about any topic and article format you are considering.

You can reach Dory Greene, our managing editor, at dgreene@healthcommedia.com, or me at bkelsey@healthcommedia.com.

Beth Kelsey, EdD, APRN, WHNP-BC