Note from the Editor

As we reach the end of 2013, I would like to begin by thanking our loyal cadre of peer reviewers, of whom all those listed at the back of this issue reviewed for us in the past year. Reviewers generously give their time and expertise to ensure that all the work we publish meets the highest standards of scholarship; while they have a lot of expertise, few have a great deal of extra time, which makes their contributions all the more remarkable. Many thanks to all of them.

Accompanying the regular issue this month is a supplemental issue sponsored by RCMI—Research Centers in Minority Institutions—emerging from its 13th International Symposium, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in December 2012. The Guest Editors, Dr. José A. Torres and Emma Fernández-Repollet, have brought together natural science papers and public health papers to represent some of the important work being conducted at these vital centers of education.

The themes of the regular issue are:

• • International and Immigrant Health

• • Mental Health

• • Diverse Ethnicities in the U.S.

• • Health Policy

Sub-Saharan Africa, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean are the ancestral homes of the two largest minority ethnic groups in the U.S., and those regions are in focus in Part 1—International and Immigrant Health. Papers in Part 2—Mental Health concern the practice of psychiatry, serious mental illness, and patient satisfaction with clinical care. A wide array of populations and health conditions flesh out Part 3, Diverse Ethnicities in the U.S. Finally, Part 4—Health Policy contributes solidly to our understanding of hospital efficiency, data collection by health plans, and recruitment of under-represented populations into clinical trials research.