Pat was strong and decisive as well as gentle and feminine. She was particularly struck by an observation about the challenges of studying the brain made by a fellow scientist, Rita Levi-Montalcini, who commented if she had known how difficult understanding the brain was, she would never have attempted it. Pat knew how difficult it was and still pursued it. She was both brilliant and brave.
Many of our contributors and readers are also engaged in the difficult task of understanding the evolution, development, organization, function and pathology of the cerebral cortex. They knew Pat as an excellent editor with high standards. The nature of journal publishing today requires that at least two-thirds of the manuscripts submitted to Cerebral Cortex must be rejected. Pat was able to make these tough decisions. However, our authors saw more than Pats discriminating side. She spent enormous amounts of time providing constructive feedback to enable authors to improve both the science and the sense of their manuscripts.
From the inception of Cerebral Cortex, Pat and I worked in synergy as the journals Editors. Her burden was greater than mine because more manuscripts were submitted in her area of expertise. As Pats workload continued to grow, we added Steve Peterson as a Reviewing Editor to handle the increasing number of manuscripts submitted in the area of human neuroimaging. After Pats death, we developed a new model for the journal with three Reviewing Editors. I will continue to handle manuscripts related to genetics, molecular, developmental and evolutionary issues, Steve Peterson will continue to deal with the area of human behavioral studies (cognitive/neuroimaging) and a new Reviewing Editor, Peter Strick, has been added to review manuscripts in the area of systems neurobiology of the cerebral cortex and related structures (i.e. neuroanatomy, cellular and behavioral neurophysiology).
Dr Strick is Professor of Neurobiology and Co-Director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a leading authority on brain circuits involved in voluntary motor behavior and his research has led to major modifications in traditional views about the cortical motor areas. He proposed a model about the organization of the neural networks that link the basal ganglia with the cerebral cortex and developed novel tracing methods to define multi-synaptic circuits in the primate central nervous system. Peter was a Reviewing Editor and then Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurophysiology for 15 years. He currently serves as Chairman of the Publications Committee of the Society for Neuroscience.
We are fortunate to be able to recruit someone of Peter Stricks caliber, expertise, and experience. I am certain that Pat would be very pleased with this choice.
Pasko Rakic
Editor-in-Chief