ASLM Announces Next Editor-in-Chief of AJLM

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 27 Jan 2022.

The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) is pleased to appoint Prof Rajiv T Erasmus as the new Editor-in-Chief of its peer-reviewed scholarly journal the African Journal of Laboratory Medicine (AJLM). Prof Erasmus, an Emeritus Professor at Stellenbosch University, will join AJLM for an initial three-year term as its fourth Editor-in-Chief starting in February 2022.

‘We are very pleased to welcome Prof Erasmus to the ASLM family,’ said Dr Pascale Ondoa, Director of Science and New Initiatives for ASLM. ‘He brings a wealth of experience and expertise, as well as a great deal of enthusiasm, to the journal.’

Prof Erasmus served as the Executive Head of the Department of Pathology at Tygerberg Hospital / University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town in South Africa from 2013 to 2017 and as Head of the Division of Chemical Pathology from 2002 to 2018. He is currently the President of the Africa Federation of Clinical Chemistry (AFCC) and the Public Relations Chair of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), as well as co-chairing the IFCC Global Laboratory Professionals week. The latter aims to publicize and emphasize the important role laboratory professionals and laboratory medicine play in patient management and Public Health. Professor Erasmus is a foundation member of the College of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (COPECSA), which he helped establish in 2010, and is its current vice president. He has worked extensively throughout Africa, including South Africa, Nigeria, and other developing countries, on epidemiology of diabetes and biomarkers related to its diagnosis, reference intervals, point-of-care testing and clinical audits. He is passionate about quality management and ethical leadership in the laboratory and has co-established the first ever academic laboratory and quality management course in Africa.

Prof Erasmus succeeds Prof Iruka N Okeke, who has served as Editor-in-Chief of AJLM since February 2017. Over the course of her term of service, AJLM saw an 81% increase in submissions and a 180% increase in citations. This was accompanied by a 31% increase in the number of articles published every year, including the publication of three special issues. In addition, Professor Okeke spearheaded two well-attended writing workshops at ASLM conferences in 2018 and virtually in 2021, as part of the journal’s commitment to mentoring young and inexperienced authors. ASLM thanks Prof Okeke for her years of service and her tremendous accomplishments leading the journal for the last six years.

Under Prof Erasmus, AJLM readers can expect to see a continuation of these trends, as well as a new emphasis on the ongoing work and achievements across the continent with respect to laboratory medicine. Prof Erasmus is especially passionate about championing equity in health and emerging technologies. ASLM members can also expect to see AJLM more frequently on social media, as part of a plan to increase the visibility of the journal and solidify its place as Africa’s premier laboratory medicine journal.

‘I am really looking forward to working with the Editorial Board, editorial office staff and the publisher to make AJLM the top journal for laboratory medicine in Africa,’ said Prof Erasmus from his offices in Durbanville, South Africa. ‘I hope to increase the visibility, impact and influence of AJLM on the continent by positioning AJLM as a place to highlight the great work being done by ASLM, Africa CDC, Africa’s amazing academic institutions and the many major research projects being conducted right in our own backyards.’

ASLM congratulates Prof Erasmus on his appointment and looks forward to a fruitful and productive first term as AJLM’s Editor-in-Chief!

For more information about ASLM, please visit:  http://www.ASLM.org.

For more information about AJLM, please visit:  http://ajlmonline.org/.