After a decade devoted to improving JADA’s appeal by harvesting content targeted specifically to the practicing dentist, Dr. Lawrence H. Meskin will step down as editor of The Journal of the American Dental Association at the end of next year.
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Dr. Lawrence H. Meskin
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Dr. Meskin announced his resignation at the Sept. 11 meeting of the Board of Directors of ADA Business Enterprises Inc., the ADA subsidiary that includes the publishing division. He will step down as editor of dentistry’s premier dental journal on Dec. 31, 2001.
"I’m a big advocate of term limits," he said, when asked what motivated his decision. "I’ve never done any one thing this long. I think 10 years is a good amount of time to achieve certain goals, and now it’s time to give someone else a chance. JADA will benefit from some new thoughts and ideas."
Dr. Meskin, who received his dental degree from the University of Detroit in 1961, was named JADA editor in October 1990. Ever since, he has focused on modernizing The Journal to boost its appeal to readers, most of whom are practicing dentists. Encouraging newer dentists to read their professional journal was particularly important to the JADA editor. And judging by recent readership surveys, his efforts have paid off.
A readership study conducted this year by PERQ/HCI Corp., an independent research firm, showed that JADA is the best-read journal in dentistry—a full 10 percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor in per-issue readership.
What’s more, JADA is just one percentage point behind the ADA News, the dental industry’s best-read publication overall, but surpasses even the News in popularity among newer dentists, those in practice 15 years or less.
Dr. Meskin cites JADA’s rising appeal among dentistry’s youth as his crowning achievement.
"They’re the future," he said of new dentists. "Of course, all our readers are important to us, but the fact that young dentists are interested in The Journal is very rewarding."
After receiving his dental degree, Dr. Meskin was in private practice for a time before moving to the University of Minnesota, where he earned three additional degrees: master of science in oral pathology, master of public health and doctor of epidemiology.
At Minnesota, he held the prestigious Hill Research Professorship until he was picked to chair a new Department of Preventive Dentistry. In 1981, he moved to the University of Colorado in Denver, where he served as dean of the School of Dentistry through 1987.
Dr. Meskin has remained at Colorado ever since, holding a number of different staff positions, including vice president for academic affairs and research. Today, he is director of the dental school’s continuing education program and a professor in the medical school’s Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics.
He and his wife, Estelle, have two grown children: Scott, 37, an emergency-room physician in Santa Fe, N.M.; and Sarah, 34, an architect in Denver.
In a report to the ADABEI Board, ADA Publisher Laura A. Kosden hailed Dr. Meskin for his contributions to JADA, the ADA and American dentistry.
"Within a decade," she wrote, "Dr. Meskin has repositioned JADA as a publication that speaks directly to the needs of the dental clinician, offering practical information that dentists can use to improve patient care. As a result, JADA’s appeal to its readers has never been higher in its 87-year history.
Dr. Meskin said he intended to remain at the University of Colorado but had no other immediate plans.
"I’ve always found that when I step away from one opportunity, another one comes along," he said. "Golfers on the pro circuit have nothing to fear from me."
