Dr. Matthew Keifer, director of the National Farm Medicine Center at Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis., has assumed editorship of the peer-reviewed Journal of Agromedicine.

Keifer, stepping up from associate editor, said one of his goals is to introduce the Journal to a broader audience.

"The research and relevant literature that we publish in the Journal of Agromedicine has value for researchers, clinical practitioners and health and safety professionals who work with the many hundreds of millions of people associated with agriculture worldwide," Keifer said.

"The Journal has a unique place in the health and safety literature, and we need to make ourselves better known."

Keifer takes over as editor-in-chief from Dr. Steven Kirkhorn, who brought the Journal to the National Farm Medicine Center in 2004, when its previous editorial home lost funding. Keifer is assisted by Scott Heiberger, managing editor, and Kathie Smith, editorial assistant.

Kirkhorn and Keifer both see patients in the F.A.R.M. (Farm, Agricultural, Rural Medicine) Clinic, part of the Marshfield Clinic Occupational Health Department directed by Kirkhorn.

Keifer, Dean Emanuel Endowed Chair and senior research scientist, joined the National Farm Medicine Center in 2010 and started the Wisconsin Dairy Workers Safety and Health Initiative. He has extensive clinical, research and programmatic expertise in agricultural health and safety. His professional efforts for the past 20 years have largely focused on Hispanic farmworkers, both in the United States and in Latin America.

He also serves as co-director of the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The Journal is published by Taylor & Francis Group and is indexed by the National Library of Medicine. For information on subscriptions and manuscript submission as well as a searchable database of all abstracts, go to http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wagr20/current. Or contact the Journal editorial staff at Agromedicine@mcrf.mfldclin.edu, or call -800-662-6900.

2.14.2012