Meet the editor of the Journal of Small Animal Practice (JSAP), the official scientific journal of the WSAVA
Dr Nicola Di Girolamo
Could you briefly introduce yourself to our members?
I am an Associate Professor of Zoological Medicine at Oklahoma State University. Before moving to the United States, I was employed as a veterinary specialist in Hong Kong. Back in Italy, I performed a clinical European College of Zoological Medicine residency in Rome. While in Rome, I completed a Master of Science in Evidence-based Healthcare at the University of Oxford and a PhD at the University of Bologna. Since veterinary school I have always been passionate about medical publications, study design and the role of publications in impacting clinical practice.
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What is your current ‘day job’ and what do you enjoy most about it?
I spend about half of my time working in the hospital with exotic pets, wildlife and zoo animals, while the other half is spent in scholarly activities. I enjoy every aspect of my clinical work: exotic animals often have disorders that have not been thoroughly ribed and I find it fascinating to integrate companion animal medicine into my daily practice. There are some less invasive surgical techniques in turtles and tortoises that I have performed extensively and it is always a pleasure to be able to help colleagues with these specific procedures. I also enjoy conducting research. I am especially focused on clinical epidemiology and believe that much useful information generated by clinical work that is ‘wasted’ if we don’t systematically collect and publish it.
You are editor of the Journal of Small Animal Practice (JSAP), the WSAVA’s official scientific journal. Could you introduce it to any members who may not be familiar with it?
I have always seen the Journal of Small Animal Practice (JSAP) as an invaluable resource for veterinary clinicians. The JSAP publishes original papers, reviews, case reports and images of small animal practice. The thing that I love about the JSAP is that it is extremely patient- and clinic-ed. Every article in the JSAP is potentially useful for a general practitioner, although many articles are also useful for specialists.
What do your responsibilities as editor of JSAP involve?
I am responsible for many things! On a daily basis I evaluate articles submitted to the JSAP to see whether they could be a good fit for the journal and whether their methodology is acceptable. I then assign articles to associate editors, who are responsible for evaluating them in detail and assigning peer-reviewers. Once an article is accepted, I make sure that the article conforms to the standards of our journal. In addition to these daily tasks, I ensure that the JSAP’s guidelines are updated and in line with current international publication standards, I invite new editors in the JSAP editorial team, I solicit submission of high-quality contributions, such as reviews or commentaries, and much more!
Why was JSAP keen to become an Educational Partner of the WSAVA?
At JSAP we believe that in order to achieve a global improvement in companion animal care, the dissemination of information is essential. As such, becoming an Educational Partner with the WSAVA was a natural step and we have recently been delighted to provide a ‘WSAVA virtual issue’, which contains a selection of JSAP articles from 2020 that are likely to be of particular interest to primary care veterinarians around the world. This is just the first of many more collaborations aimed to assist dissemination of high-quality small animal medicine.
From your perspective, what do you see as some of the important developments in companion animal veterinary medicine that our members should be looking out for this year?
I think this past year has pushed some developments forward extremely quickly. One example is the development of online webinars and online conferences. Two years ago, who would have believed that the world’s major conferences would have moved online in a full virtual environment?
When I was first a veterinary student and then a resident, I had to use all my savings in order to fly to international conferences in the US where new thinking on exotic animal medicine was presented. Now this barrier no longer exists. You can attend and present in most conferences from your home. I think this dramatically changes the opportunities open both to new and more experienced vets and it will help to standardize the level of care given to companion animals around the world.
Tell us something about you might surprise us!
In order to release tension after work I practice Brazilian jiujitsu, a form of grappling that I started practicing in Hong Kong. It then became part of my routine here in the US. On vacations, I always try to combine some days of surfing with more standard traveling. It helps me replenish my energy!
Check out JSAP’s WSAVA online collection
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5827.wsava
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