Sue Symons
Following a career in quality, financial and administrative management Sue became part of the editorial team of ASME’s journals Medical Education and The Clinical Teacher twelve years ago. For the first three years, with much support from her daughter, friends and colleagues, she combined her work for the journals with a full time degree in English Literature, Language and Linguistics achieving a First and acquiring a fountain of knowledge of the world of publishing. For the past nine years, as Editorial Manager, she has worked closely with the Editors and the Board of Management to provide high quality publications that meet the needs of the ASME membership and the international community of medical educators.
Sue has been an integral part of the journals’ development, taking a key role in their production, redesign and their move onto digital platforms. She oversees the submission and review processes for both journals and is responsible for the preparation, setting and final approval of each issue. She represents ASME and the journals at many conferences, produces author information and advice, and runs workshops on writing for publication.
Sue considers the most important roles of the editorial team to be the encouragement and nurturing of authors and the dissemination of topical and relevant work to the medical education and health professional communities.
She comments that: ‘In the last year, as part of the research for Medical Education’s 50th Volume celebrations it has been truly inspirational to delve deeper into the history of the medical education community and to gain an even greater appreciation for how many key players in the field have been the members of ASME who created and have sustained the journals. I feel very fortunate to be part of such a long and remarkable history and to work with such a talented and generous team of academics and clinicians who freely give of their advice and time.
Dr. Kevin Eva, Editor-in-chief of Medical Education, said “Sue’s work on behalf of the journals and ASME is generally done behind the scenes to the point that most in the Association would not appreciate how instrumental she has been to the operations and success of both journals. I’ve personally worked with Sue for a decade and have been routinely impressed by how strongly she takes ownership over the journals, doing whatever needs done to help ASME put forward as strong a product as can be provided. She keeps me and the other editors in line with good grace, humour, and strong spirit and never fails to be conscious of the importance of treating authors and reviewers with respect and a friendly manner. We have implemented a number of special projects in recent years and Sue has always borne the additional burden with aplomb. It is too easy to overlook the influence that the editorial office has on scholars’ perceptions of the journal and their willingness to interact and submit their best work to us and it is Sue who sets the tone in that regard.”