The success, Dr. Wachter says, shows Dr. Williams was the right choice to lead JHM from birth through toddlerhood.
More importantly, Dr. Williams embraced the vision of HM leaders who believed the journal needed to be a big tent in order to succeed. “We wanted to try to somehow hit the sweet spot of being relevant and interesting to folks who practice hospital medicine in a wide array of circumstances,” Dr. Wachter says, “while also being a go-to place for researchers to submit their research. That was ambitious, and that could have failed in all sorts of directions. It could have been quite relevant to clinicians, but not rigorous enough for researchers. It could have been perfect for researchers, but the clinicians could have felt it wasn’t relative to their day-to-day life. I think the journal has done a masterful job negotiating that tight wire.”
Mark Leiser is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.