Thank you for entrusting me with the mantle of Medical Editor in Chief of the “Official Voice of Emergency Medicine.” Assuming the reins of ACEP Now from my predecessor is a heady endeavor and one that I do not take lightly. Our award-winning publication, as the voice of emergency physicians, requires that ACEP Now represents a diverse swath of our colleagues. Under my forerunner’s leadership, our magazine has accomplished that feat with features like FACEPs in the Crowd, which has highlighted the devotion with which ACEP members pursue interests apart from medicine.

I am blessed to take over as the Medical Editor in Chief for a magazine that already has a tremendously great lineup of columnists who have kept emergency docs—myself included—up-to-date on the latest medical literature, risk management tips, ultrasound pearls, and life hacks. I have no plans to change what ACEP Now has done well over the years.

But I do think we can improve on showing the emergency medicine community what ACEP members do, whether it is in the grueling and often unnoticed committee work or the fascinating activities undertaken by sections where we make a difference for our patients and our profession away from the bedside.

I also feel that, as the “Official Voice of Emergency Medicine,” ACEP Now must represent multiple viewpoints and address myriad concerns. Whether you practice in a community or academic setting, a rural or urban environment, whether you live in a blue state or red, and regardless of whether you are a member of ACEP or not, you can expect an editorially independent perspective that respects the inputs of every emergency physician.

We are the protagonists of our own stories, and ACEP Now is our means of speaking—not only to ourselves but to the world. When patients complain that “the doctor didn’t do anything” and reporters claim that emergency docs are responsible for a $600 Band-Aid, it is our duty to focus that narrative on the burdens we face taking care of every person who walks through our doors, 24-7-365, regardless of their ability to pay. Our EMTALA mandate gives the emergency physician an ethical construct that no other physician—dare I say no other American—can rival.  Emergency physicians meet this challenge on every shift and for every patient, so whenever employers threaten to fire us for speaking out about the lack of safeguards to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities amid a hopefully once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, it is ACEP Now’s duty to be the voice of emergency physicians.

But it all starts with content.

In 1996, Bill Gates wrote an essay entitled “Content Is King.” The lessons from that now-25-year-old treatise are still true today. Our content is the heart of ACEP Now. Pearls from the Medical Literature, Medicolegal Mind, Forensic Facts, Kids Korner, Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine—these columns are among my personal favorites to read every month when the magazine hits my mailbox. In a rapidly evolving profession, it is impossible to keep up with the latest research and with the best tricks of the trade. Our columnists make that task possible for me.

As much as I love to learn from my colleagues and feel the glossy pages under my fingers, a print magazine is simply a delivery mechanism for content. My goal is to get ACEP Now in front of the eyes (and ears) of more and more emergency physicians in their preferred medium. We should have a more multimedia-rich experience to ACEP Now—podcasts, videos, maybe one day virtual reality–based content to help hone our technical skills.

ACEP Now is for you, the emergency physician, to educate you, to inspire you, and to change the world for the better. To that effect, I want us to look at emergency medicine more globally, pulling stories and learning from across the continents. Do you remember the fascinating piece in the February issue about Wade Wernecke, MD, FACEP, FAAFP, detailing his near-death experiences while volunteering in Asia? Incredible stories like that are what make our specialty the most exciting in all the house of medicine.

During our daily grind, we experience the greatest of human stories. Our oaths forbid us from sharing many of the details we see or hear about the lives of the patients for whom we care, but when we can, we should share these revelations with one another in these pages. So please, bring your stories forward and, above all else, share the knowledge you have gleaned with other emergency physicians.

To conclude, I’d like to reflect on a phrase that former Medical Editor in Chief Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, FACEP, wrote in his May 2019 farewell article for ACEP Now, that “opportunity often finds you when you’re ready but not, necessarily, when you’re looking for it.” I certainly was not looking for this assignment, but I know that I am ready to experience the journey upon which we are about to embark.

Dr. Dark is assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, on the Board of Directors of Doctors for America, and Medical Editor in Chief of ACEP Now.