It has been 15 years since I started this journal: 15 years of hard work and endless reviewing, editing, and formatting, and 15 years of gratifying involvement in the world of turtle conservation and biology. I have felt most fortunate to have successfully transformed my early focused interests in the taxonomy of chelid turtles into a position of broad leadership in the global turtle-conservation community. I have also been most honored to have been accepted into this chelonian community, despite my simultaneous and parallel nonturtle-focused career as a practicing orthopedic surgeon.
The publications I produced through the Chelonian Research Foundation, including Chelonian Conservation and Biology, Chelonian Research Monographs, and Turtle and Tortoise Newsletter, and my leadership involvement in the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group and the Turtle Conservation Fund, have been the main vehicles that allowed me to play an integral role in...
