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A Tribute to Iris F. Litt, M.D.
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of
Adolescent Health
January 1, 1990 through March 31, 2004
The Society for Adolescent Medicine was honored to have recognized
Iris F. Litt, M.D., FSAM during its Annual Meeting in St.
Louis on March 24, 2004.
Mr. Glen P. Campbell, Senior Vice President, U.S. Health
Sciences Journals of Elsevier, had the following to say about
Dr. Litt.
“Thank you for providing us with the opportunity to pay tribute
to Dr. Litt who became Editor of the Journal of Adolescent
Health (JAH) in 1990, the same year I joined Elsevier. Linda
Gruner, Executive Publisher, and I have had the privilege
of working with Dr. Litt and her wonderful Managing Editor,
Ann McGrath-Briggs, for a good portion of the past 13 years,
but there are many others at Elsevier who work on the journal
including its Senior Issue Manager, Paula Vetrovec, and JAH’s
current Associate Publisher, Regina Klein. I speak on behalf
of many people at Elsevier who work on the journal and hold
Dr. Litt in high esteem.
“The publishing partnership between Elsevier and the Society
for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) has been renewed a few times
since 1990, which reflects that our relationship has been
mutually beneficial, something in large part, due to Dr. Litt’s
fine work as Editor-in-Chief of JAH.
“My first trip to St. Louis was for an editorial board meeting
of the Journal of the Reticuloendothelial System so you can
understand that my JAH editorial board meeting was a welcome
relief. Nothing against leukocyte biologists, but the content
of JAH is far more accessible; it’s one of the journals everyone
at Elsevier does read because its relevance is immediately
evident. Whether or not we have children or teenagers is beside
the point. We all know that teenagers are our future and they
face an increasingly complex and difficult world. The research
and the work you all do, the interventions you make, have
a proactive, profound, and beneficial effect on our society
and our world as they navigate that world.
“Dr. Litt’s insightful and well-written editorials, gently,
but firmly prod the reader to consider a new and or different
point of view. She uses few words to make many good points.
She writes with eloquence and edits with style.
“During the past 14 years, Dr. Litt has been intimately involved
with all aspects of the JAH publishing process. She’s always
pressed for the highest quality in production values, from
copyediting to paper. She pushed to have the journal online
as quickly as possible and made significant contributions
to our marketing efforts.
“Throughout her many years as Editor, she interacted with
many people at Elsevier, all of whom speak of her in glowing
terms. Her interactions with all the Elsevier staff reflected
her respect for them as publishing professionals. She is a
publisher’s dream editor: informed, involved, and interactive.
Did I note that she has a sense of humor? It’s unique to her
personality. She is also one of the top ten best dressed Elsevier
editors.
“On behalf of Elsevier and all those who work on JAH, who
now include Regina Klein in St. Louis, we are pleased to present
Iris with two gifts as token of the high esteem in which we
hold her and the significant contribution she has made to
the medical and scientific literature.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Litt
and we thank Dr. Brookman, Dr. DuRant, Edie Moore, and Ann
McGrath Briggs, all of whom have assisted Elsevier in our
efforts to publish JAH.
“We look forward to working with Dr. Irwin on the continued
growth and success of JAH.”
Recognition continued with Richard R. Brookman, M.D., FSAM,
a Past President of the Society for Adolescent Medicine and
Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Adolescent Health,
sharing the following:
“I was very pleased to be asked to organize and present this
tribute to Iris Litt, M.D., FSAM, as she steps down from the
position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
I have been associated with the journal since its very beginnings.
I have known Dr. Litt longer than most members of SAM. I first
met Dr. Litt more than 30 years ago when I was a new pediatric
resident at Montefiore and she was one of my first faculty
attendings, albeit a very young attending. Dr. Litt and I
spent a lot of time together behind bars. She was the attending
physician at Spofford, New York City’s juvenile delinquent
center, where I spent a month. Dr. Litt taught me much about
dysmenorrheal, pelvic inflammatory disease, sexually related
problems of young prostitutes, and the health care of delinquent
youth – in short, all I needed to know about cramps, tramps,
and scamps! Her influence may be responsible for my now being
the medical consultant to three juvenile detention centers
in the Richmond, Virginia area.
“I have had the pleasure and the privilege of serving on
the SAM Executive Council/Board of Directors along with Dr.
Litt for 12 of the past 22 years. I was Director of Publications
when she was the SAM President and when I was SAM President,
she was editor of the journal. Over these many years, I observed
that at all times, Dr. Litt was both elegant and eloquent
in all of her work for SAM. In preparing this tribute, I did
what senior faculty usually do – I invited several “co-authors”
to share in the writing for which I would take the credit.
Actually, I wanted the tribute to reflect more than my own
words.
“I began by doing some research. I found in the November
1989 issue of our Journal the welcome to Dr. Litt written
by Dr. Ron Shenker, then chair of the Journal Advisory committee
which served as the search committee for the editor-in-chief
to replace Dr. Verdain Barnes. Dr. Shenker wrote ‘We are pleased
to announce that Iris Litt, M.D., of Stanford, has accepted
the position of Editor-in-Chief beginning with the 1990 issue.
The Society is fortunate to have attracted Dr. Litt to this
position. Dr. Litt’s impressive curriculum vitae attests to
the wide experience and background that make her a leader
in adolescent medicine, who can bring broad breadth of experience
to our journal.’
“By that time, Dr. Litt had distinguished herself in her
training at Cornell, SUNY Downstate, and New York Hospital
where she was a resident in Pediatrics. She spent 8 years
on the faculty in Adolescent Medicine at Montefiore, including
appointments as Director of the New York City Juvenile Detention
center and Medical Director of the Adolescent Service at Rikers
Island. She had been at Stanford as Director of Adolescent
Medicine since 1976. She had been a charter member of SAM,
served as the 12th and 2nd female president of SAM, and had
been given the AAP Section on Adolescent Health award. She
had written or co-authored 70 papers and 36 chapters and monographs.
She had co-authored a book for parents of teenagers and a
book on child and adolescent growth and development and written
a very practical handbook for approaching the adolescent patient.
“Dr. Shenker continued, ‘The Executive Council believes Dr.
Litt possesses the academic credentials, the broad vision,
the demonstrated leadership, and the humane qualities that
are necessary to move our journal into the 1990s.’
“Dr. Verdain Barnes, who could not attend this tribute, sent
the following message. ‘Iris, I regret that I am not able
to be there for this well-deserved event honoring your years
as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Adolescent Health. Your
tenure has marked important changes for the Journal. Each
of your accomplishments speaks to your commitment to the Journal
and its important role in promoting adolescent health. congratulate
you on leading the way to changing the Journal’s name, bringing
the Journal into the computer age, enhancing the appeal of
the Journal to a broader audience, expanding the Journal’s
dedication to scholarship and innovation, and expanding and
strengthening the Editorial Board and manuscript review process.
Your countless hours of work have provided SAM with an official
Journal of which it can be rightfully proud. I applaud your
editorship and know that the legacy you are leaving will be
hard to follow.’
“Dr. Karen Hein, a close friend of Iris’ who also could not
attend this tribute, wrote ‘Iris and I refer to each other
as chosen sisters. We spend hours talking to each other each
weekend by phone. She often ends our conversation with something
like well I gotta’ go…still have JAH work to do. Clearly,
Iris’ job as Editor-in-Chief has been 24/7 for many years.
Iris is an incredibly elegant and effective person who has
influenced our field and the country in her particularly thoughtful,
sensitive, heartfelt way. Being somewhat reserved in spoken
word, she has incredible communicative powers through her
writing. I believe that her most significant gift to SAM,
to our field, and to the history of our era is the collection
of editorials she has written over the years. Each one is
a jewel on its own. Together, the collection gives incredible
insight and depth to our field. Iris has put research into
the larger context of our era so that the Journal’s contents
are not isolated, but instead are central to our ability to
understand and act on behalf of young people. The power of
the pen (or keyboard in her case) gives her reach beyond the
hundreds or thousands of people who know and love her to the
millions of people who can read those editorials.’
“Drs. Barnes and Hein have spoken of Dr. Litt’s impact on
our Journal and its readers. Dr. Litt’s influence on individual
professionals and students is described by Dr. Debbie Katzman,
who was a fellow in Adolescent Medicine with Dr. Litt and
who now serves as SAM’s Director of Publications, says ‘One
of Iris’ greatest legacies as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal
of Adolescent Health is the people she has touched, mentored,
encouraged and nurtured during this fourteen-year journey.
Iris fostered my love for adolescent health, she challenged
my thinking, she helped me see adolescent health issues in
new ways, and she helped me realize that research is a fundamental
part of my everyday interactions with patients.’
“Dr. Katzman continued, ‘Iris introduced me to the Society
for Adolescent Medicine and the Journal of Adolescent Health,
knowing that this would always be an important foundation
and network for my academic career. The Journal continues
to be one of my primary vehicles for lifelong learning. As
a devoted reader of the Journal, I have watched how Iris revolutionized
the care of adolescents through the increasing quality of
manuscripts published in our Journal over the years. These
changes and achievements are documented throughout her entire
tenure with our Journal.’
“If my ‘co-authors’ had not said all of these things about
Dr. Litt, I certainly would have for these are my observations
and sentiments. I believe that we all, in the words of Dr.
Katzman, ‘Thank Dr. Litt for her devotion to SAM, for her
immeasurable contributions to the advancement of the Journal
of Adolescent Health, for her ability to educate and disseminate
knowledge to adolescent health care providers, and for her
tireless commitment to improving our knowledge and care of
adolescents around the world.’ ”
The Society for Adolescent Medicine extends an invitation
to you, a visitor to the Society’s Web Site, to read Dr. Litt’s
editorials:
All editorials are provided in Adobe Acrobat reader format.
Each downloadable file represents editorials written by Dr.
Litt for an individual year during her tenure as the editor
of the "Journal of Adolescent Health".
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Publications/Research
