It is difficult to believe that this preface signifies the fourth edition of Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology that our author group has overseen, and the 26th edition overall of this important reference work aimed at medical and other health professional students. As always, we have tried to maintain the highest standards of excellence that were promulgated by the original author, Fran Ganong, over the 46 years where he served, remarkably, as the sole author of the textbook.
In this new edition, we have cast a fresh eye on the pedagogical approach taken in each chapter and section, and have focused particularly on including only material that is of the highest yield. We have thoroughly revised the learning objectives for every chapter, reorganized and updated the text to ensure that all objectives are clearly addressed in a logical order, aligned chapter summaries so that the take-home messages quickly address each learning objective in turn, and expanded the number of review questions so that readers also have the ability to check their understanding and retention of every objective covered. As a discipline evolves and new information emerges, there is a tendency simply to concatenate these concepts such that chapter structure degrades inevitably over time. With in-depth discussions amongst the author team and significant "spring-cleaning," we believe we have freshened and simplified the volume while also making sure that important new developments are incorporated. We are immensely thankful to Erica Wehrwein, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology and an award-winning instructor at Michigan State University, who took on the task of reviewing the book as a whole and providing specific and detailed feedback to us on each chapter.
This new edition also welcomes a new member to the author team. We are delighted to have been able to recruit Jason X.-J. Yuan, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Physiology as well as Chief of the Division of Translational and Regenerative Medicine and Associate Vice President for Translational Health Sciences at the University of Arizona, who has assumed responsibility for some cell physiology and cardiovascular topics, as well as the respiratory physiology section. We are particularly excited to have a physician-scientist on the team, who can guide us overall to focus on material that is of most benefit to those preparing for a career incorporating patient care. We are most grateful for the past contributions of Scott Boitano, PhD, whose other obligations meant that he could no longer serve as an author.
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