The Changing Face of Education at PLOS Computational Biology

In January 2006, Fran Lewitter, PLOS Computational Biology Founding Education Editor, announced the launch of a new Education column in the journal. This new column recognised the need for bioinformatics and computational biology training and education specifically targeted to biologists. Since then, the Education section has proven to be an extremely valuable resource for the community, with over 50 articles published within the Education collection itself and a further two collections launched under its banner, Bioinformatics: Starting Early and Translational Bioinformatics.

After eight years as Education Editor, we’re sad to announce that Fran Lewitter is now stepping down from this position. She will, however, be remaining with the journal as an Editorial Advisory Board member. To mark the end of her time in the role of Education Editor, she reflects on the journey she has taken and offers some words of wisdom on the power of networking in her new Editorial, Moving Education Forward, Again! None of the achievements mentioned above would have been possible without Fran’s hard work and dedication, and we are extremely grateful for all her support. Phil Bourne, Founding Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Computational Biology comments on Fran’s accomplishments:

“Fran has been a wonderful asset to the journal and is largely responsible for making the Education Section of PLOS Computational Biology such a success over the years. I enjoyed working with her immensely. Our community should recognise her dedication and commitment to teaching.”

This is, however, not the end of the ever-popular PLOS Computational Biology Education section! We are delighted to announce that Francis Ouellette and Joanne Fox will be joining the PLOS Computational Biology Editorial Board as our new Education Editors.  Francis and Joanne have both been involved in a variety of education initiatives, both within their institutions (Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and the University of British Columbia) and in their community outreach efforts, and we look forward to the insights they can bring to the Education section. To find out more about the new Editors and their plans for the section, take a look at their first Editorial, “Education in Computational Biology Today and Tomorrow”.

We can’t wait to see what the next eight years will bring!

You can visit the Education collection at: http://www.ploscollections.org/compbioleducation