Symposium issues of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics can come about in many different ways. Often times a potential guest-editor will send a proposal to us, and if we like what we read, we will schedule a symposium issue. Occasionally the editorial staff has a topic in mind, and we seek out a guest-editor to bring the idea to life. The issue you hold in your hands, however, came about a little bit differently. Well more than a year ago my friend Daniel Goldberg was on Twitter, chatting and debating about stigma and health with our mutual friend Ross Silverman. I rudely interjected myself into their (admittedly public) conversation, and noted I long had wanted to produce a special issue on stigma and health. Daniel was intrigued by this idea, and that led to phone calls, which led to a formal proposal, and eventually to our enthusiastic acceptance of Daniel's proposal to produce a special issue on stigma and health. The result of this is the issue of JLME that you hold in your hands; an outstanding collection of papers expertly selected, curated, and edited by Daniel, featuring a collection of eclectic and thoughtful papers from across the globe. Included in this collection are papers by Ross Silverman (the other half of that initial Twitter conversation), Lindsay Wiley, ASLME's President for 2018, and a host of multidisplanary scholars exploring the debilitating effects of stigma on health, including its role as related to incarceration, vaccine refusal, drug laws, opioid addiction, weight, the unhealthy, and examining the role of micro-aggressions and stigma in everyday life. Taken collectively, the papers are an informative and penetrating look at the role that stigma plays in almost everyone's life.
It is also important at this time to note a critical changing of the guard at JLME. Courtney McClellan, my good friend and fellow editor for the last ten years, is stepping aside from her full-time role at the Journal. While Courtney will continue to work with us on special projects, she is refocusing much of her time on her family as she moves to Los Angeles, nearly as far as one can get from the Boston winters she endured for the last decade. As disappointed as we all are to lose Courtney, we are cheered that our great friend Margo Smith has taken her place in the editorial office. Margo, who is familiar to many of our members and readers as the Membership Director of ASLME, will now become Assistant Editor of JLME. (Katie Johnson, ASLME's Conference Director, will now also assume the duties of Membership.) I expect that my brilliant friend Margo will have a long and successful tenure at JLME, and I very much look forward to bringing more issues to you with her. In the meantime, enjoy this: the first issue of Margo's hopefully long tenure at JLME. Let it serve as a reminder to all of us that great ideas (and great symposium issues) can come from anywhere, be it the most formal of proposals or the most casual conversation on Twitter.
