This Series on “Cardiac Troponin” is edited by Dr. Xander van Wijk from Medical and Scientific Affairs, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, USA, Dr. Amy Saenger from Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, Dr. Steven Meex from Central Diagnostic Laboratory, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands and Dr. Allan S. Jaffe from Department of Cardiology and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA

Xander van Wijk, PhD, DABCC, FAACC
Medical Affairs, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, Singapore

Research interests: Cardiac Markers, Sepsis, Pharmacogenomics, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Toxicology, Mass Spectrometry

Dr. van Wijk obtained his BSc in Molecular Life Sciences at the Maastricht University in 2006, his MSc in Biomedical Sciences at the Hasselt University in 2007, and his PhD in Medical Sciences (Department of Biochemistry) at the Radboud University Nijmegen in 2013. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Chemistry at the University of California San Francisco in 2017.

Dr. van Wijk is board-certified by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry in 2017, and by the American Society of Clinical Pathology Board of Certification in 2018. Before his current position as Medical Director at Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, he held the position of Assistant Professor of Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago and oversaw the Clinical Chemistry, Rapid Response and Pharmacogenomics Laboratories as an attending clinical chemist.

Dr. van Wijk has published more than 50 publications in international peer-review journals. Dr. van Wijk has been invited to give presentations in more than 20 domestic and international conferences. Dr. van Wijk has provided professional services to more than 10 journals and professional organizations.

Amy Saenger, PhD, DABCC
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Medical Director of the Clinical Laboratories, Director of Clinical Chemistry and Point-of-Care Testing, Hennepin County Medical Center; Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota.

Dr. Saenger received her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Chemistry at the University of Washington. Dr. Saenger is board certified in Clinical Chemistry by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry. She currently is Medical Director of the Clinical Laboratories, Director of Clinical Chemistry, Director of Point-of-Care Testing, and Director of the Emergency Department Laboratory at Hennepin Healthcare/Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis, MN. She is also Co-Director of the ComACC accredited Clinical Chemistry Fellowship program at HCMC.

Dr. Saenger’s clinical areas of expertise are in the areas of cardiovascular biomarkers, diabetes, and lipids/lipoproteins. Her research interests focus on the utility of cardiac troponin, natriuretic peptides and novel cardiorenal markers of risk, vascular stress, damage, and oxidative stress. She currently serves as a Member of the IFCC Committee on Clinical Applications of Cardiac Biomarkers (C-CB) and as a Member of the Working Group for Standardization of Cardiac Troponin I (TNI). She has been honored with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Young Investigator Award and the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry George Grannis Young Investigator Award and authored over 100 peer reviewed manuscripts and book chapters.

Steven Meex, PhD
Department of Clinical Chemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC), PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, the Netherlands

Dr. Steven Meex is a Clinical Chemist at the Central Diagnostic Laboratory of Maastricht University Medical Center in The Netherlands. He is heading the unit General Clinical Chemistry and Hematology.

Dr. Meex obtained his PhD in 2007 at the department of Internal Medicine (Maastricht University) and conducted postdoctoral training at New York University (US) in 2008 and 2009. He performed residency in Clinical Chemistry at the University Hospital of Maastricht (2009-2013) and has been appointed a faculty position at the Central Diagnostic Laboratory since 2013.

His current scientific research focuses on cardiac biomarkers and biological variation. He is the developer of the medical smartphone app Labtracker+, a medical decision support tool for the interpretation of changes in consecutive laboratory results.

Allan S. Jaffe, MD
Mayo Clin, Dept Cardiol, Gonda 5,200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905 USA.

Dr. Allan Jaffe is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He received his house staff and Cardiology training at Washington University and continued there for 24 years rising to the rank of Professor of Medicine and Director of the Coronary Care Unit. He then moved to the State University of New York where he was Chair of the Cardiovascular Division, Associate Chair of Medicine for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Medicine.  After four years he moved to the Mayo Clinic where he is presently Professor of Medicine in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He is a noted authority on biomarkers of cardiac injury, inflammation, hemodynamic disturbance, and coagulation and particularly their clinical utility. He has published a large number of original manuscripts, book chapters, reviews, and sits on most of the prestigious editorial boards and guideline committees in the Cardiology and Clinical Chemistry communities.  He has been a principal for the Universal Definition of MI group.

Series outline:

1. Introductory preface for the special series
2. Update on Global Conversion to High-Sensitivity Troponin Assays
3. High-Sensitivity Troponins: Friend or Foe? 
4. Development of High-Sensitivity Troponin Algorithms 
5. Ruling in or Ruling Out Mycoardial Injury Based on a Single High-Sensitivity Troponin Measurment 
6. High-Sensitivity Troponins and Type II MI/non-Ischemic Injury 
7. High-Sensitivity Troponin: Point of Care Assays
8. Novel Clinical Applications of High-Sensitivity Troponin
9. Effect of Population Differences on High-Sensitivity Troponin Results
10. Different Circulating Forms of Cardiac Troponin
11. Interferences in Cardiac Troponin Assays
12. Novel Measurement Platforms for Cardiac Troponin

Disclosure:
The series “Cardiac Troponin” was commissioned by the editorial office, Journal of Laboratory and Precision Medicine without any sponsorship or funding. Xander van Wijk, Amy Saenger, Steven Meex and Allan S. Jaffe serving as the unpaid Guest Editor for the series.