From the editor: World events bring change to Yale and to Yale Medicine

Changes—some long-planned, others arising of necessity—are in the air for Yale Medicine. For more than a year we’ve been contemplating a redesign of the magazine. In the nine years since the last redesign, as some sections and pages have begun to show their age, we have seen a need to bring variety and flexibility to them. Our first step will be to survey our readers to ask what you like—or don’t like—about the magazine. Many of you should expect to receive a survey, by mail or e-mail, in the coming weeks.

Then came word last December that the global economic crisis had reached the university, reducing its endowment by a quarter and requiring cuts in spending. In February came another announcement—the crisis was more severe than anticipated and belts would have to be pulled even tighter.

The School of Medicine is not immune to these events. To meet requests to reduce spending, we are scaling back on Yale Medicine. We are still looking at ways to cut back, but options include shrinking the magazine from our current size of 48 pages for the winter and spring issues and 64 for the autumn issue to a standard 32 pages for all three issues. Or we may cut back from three issues a year to two. These changes will drive our redesign; and sadly, we’ll see the reduction or elimination of certain pages and sections.

Despite these changes we will continue to produce what we consider a first-rate publication, with compelling stories about the medical school and the issues and events that affect it. We hope that Yale Medicine will continue to engage you and help you to maintain your ties to the School of Medicine.