key: cord-0853471-u3t7eoj8
authors: Macon, William R.
title: COVID-19 and remembering Professor Dennis H. Wright
date: 2020-05-26
journal: J Hematop
DOI: 10.1007/s12308-020-00397-6
sha: 4a0821ef8d6e4a143adbd68a3806e44d9b3a02c4
doc_id: 853471
cord_uid: u3t7eoj8

nan

Since the time the most recent issue of the Journal of Hematopathology (JHEP) went to press, the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has gone from a regional fire to a global cauldron. At the moment of this writing, there have been nearly four million confirmed global infections by this virus resulting in more than 258 thousand deaths [1] .

During this pandemic, some pathologists/hematopathologists around the world have experienced increased hours at work due to staff reductions and redeployments and to new assignments. Others have seen reduced duty hours because of scaled back elective and non-essential procedures in hospitals and to shuttering of research labs. This has also been a time of working differently: changed workflows, working in more contained environments or working remotely, adapting to accelerated use of digital pathology, and migration to virtual educational meetings, clinical conferences, and tumor boards.

Medical and scientific journals have also been impacted to varying extents, including receiving a mass of manuscripts on SAR-CoV2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19. As of March 16, 2020, there were greater than 24,000 peerreviewed papers published in journals or appearing as nonpeer-reviewed preprints on websites such as bioRxiv and medRxiv on these topics [2] . Several publishers including Springer Nature are now making coronavirus-related research papers freely available [3] . Some journals have stated specific guidelines for how original research on COVID-19 will be prioritized [4] .

Springer Nature, the publisher of JHEP, has released a statement on the Journal's homepage in order to accommodate authors and reviewers who are faced with challenges due to the current crisis that prevents them from meeting specified deadlines [5] . JHEP is grateful that the number of manuscripts submitted to it to date in 2020 is only mildly decreased from that submitted over the same time period in 2019. The Editor and Associate Editors of JHEP have encountered slightly more difficulty than usual finding reviewers to agree to review papers and to complete assignments by their due date because of the aforementioned workplace changes. Authors have been very accepting of these issues when notified by the Journal.

However, all of this pales in comparison with any of our experiences with COVID-19 illnesses or deaths among family, friends, and work colleagues. As such, the greater hematopathology community mourns the recent death of Professor Dennis H. Wright of Southampton, United Kingdom to COVID-19 after his having suffered a fractured hip [6] . Professor Wright's early career included spending eight years at Makerere University College Medical School in Kampala, Uganda, where he collaborated with Dr. Denis Burkitt investigating a jaw tumor in children in Africa's malaria belt that became known as Burkitt lymphoma [6] . For this work, he received the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter prize in 1973 [6] . He was appointed Foundation Professor of Pathology at the newly opened Medical School of the University of Southampton in 1971 and served as the Head of Pathology at Southampton General Hospital until his retirement in 1996 [6] . At Southampton, he became a world expert in the histological diagnosis and classification of lymphoma [6] . He was a founding member and a past President of the British Lymphoma Pathology Group and the European Association for Haematopathology and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pathology for 15 years [6] . He authored numerous original research papers and several books, including Diagnostic Lymph Node Pathology, now in its third edition [6] .

Having ended this editorial on that somber note, I wish good health to all of our readers and to all of those who are part of JHEP. Be safe and stay well.

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Journal of Hematopathology Updates. COVID-19 and impact on peer review