Professor S Faisal Ahmed will become Editor-in-Chief of the Society for Endocrinology’s open access journal, Endocrine Connections, from 1 January 2024, taking over from Professor Adrian Clark.

Professor Ahmed is a consultant at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow and holds the Samson Gemmell Chair of Child Health at the University of Glasgow. We caught up with him to find out more about his career in endocrinology, and what this new role means to him.

What inspired you to choose a career in endocrinology?

I was always interested in paediatrics as a career, even when I was a medical student. As far as endocrinology goes, I was inspired purely by chance, being in the right place at the right time. I had energy, enthusiasm and an appetite for inquiry, so I pursued a wide range of research, supported by some leading figures in endocrinology, including Chris Kelnar, Raj Thakker and Ieuan Hughes. 

I was convinced that paediatric endocrinology was the right choice when another leading light in endocrinology, Stephen Shalet (the external examiner for my MD), later explained that paediatricians were nice people and so were endocrinologists, so paediatric endocrinologists had to be the nicest!

What motivated you to join the Editorial Board of Endocrine Connections?

I have served on the editorial boards of other journals and have followed the progress of Endocrine Connections for a few years. I have worked with Bioscientifica, the publisher, in other areas and have a great deal of respect for Adrian Clark, the outgoing Editor-in-Chief. So, when the opportunity arose, I didn’t have to think twice before throwing my hat in the ring.

What are you looking forward to most in your new role as Editor-in-Chief? And what are you looking for in submissions to Endocrine Connections?

As the incoming Editor-in-Chief, I believe we need to build on the word ‘connections’, whether that be connections with other sciences, connections between the different clinical professions within endocrinology, connections between the bench and the lab, connections between centres, or connections between data sets. These are the qualities I hope to see in future submissions to the journal. 

I am often asked what is the best paper I have ever published, and my usual answer is my first one, which was a methodology paper in the journal Annals of Human Biology. I would also like future endocrinologists to remember Endocrine Connections as the journal where they published their first paper, and which connected them to endocrinology.

Read the full interview in Endocrine Connections