Stephen Waring, DVM, PhD, brings depth and breadth across multiple disciplines to his role as Journal of Agromedicine Associate Editor. His willingness to share this expertise for the advancement of agricultural safety and health, and his dedication to the scholarly quality of what we publish, have led us to name Dr. Waring our “Peer Reviewer of the Year” 2021.
Waring is Principal Scientist, Division of Research, Essentia Institute of Rural Health, Duluth, Minn. He has, in the past five years, served as an ad hoc reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine as well as journals dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease, epidemiology, psychiatry, neurology, genetics, emergency nursing and public health.
Waring has been the Journal of Agromedicine Associate Editor for Epidemiology since 2011, conducting and overseeing thorough, constructive peer reviews that are highly valued by authors and editors.
“Working with Steve is always a great learning experience,” said Journal of Agromedicine Editor-in-Chief Matthew Keifer. “He is generous with his knowledge, expertise and time, kind with his advice, and supportive with his humor and good will. I consider myself lucky to be able to include him among my colleagues.”
Waring has supervised the review of six manuscripts during the past year, more than any other Associate Editor.
“The peer-review process is the foundation of science that ensures integrity in research,” Waring said. “Serving as a reviewer for a journal is a responsibility that scientists owe their profession and one that requires keeping current on the literature and methods of their particular subject matter area to provide a fair and critical review. A good review must be unbiased, instructive and honest in order to further our knowledge and move the field forward.”
Waring’s interest in rural health includes being co-investigator on “Surveillance of disease and injury in Wisconsin dairy farmers and workers,” funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health through the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center; serving on the Governing Board of the Health Care Systems Research Network; and membership on the Steering Committee of AGRICOH (International Agriculture Cohort Consortium), National Cancer Institute (Bethesda, MD) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (Lyon, France). He is currently involved in several NIH funded studies to address health equality that includes rural populations as a traditionally underrepresented group in research.
“As a public health scientist, I see rural health as an important area for research, since the confluence of demography, culture, geography and access are challenges that must be better understood,” Waring said. “Many of the lessons learned not only transform health care for rural populations, but provide a better path forward for populations in general.”
Waring is currently Essentia Health’s Principal Investigator for the All of Us Research Program, a National Institutes of Health precision medicine initiative that seeks 1 million volunteers across the United States to share information about their health, habits and environment in order to speed up health research and more quickly identify medical advancements. Essentia Health is an enrollment site.
Waring also has a special interest in Alzheimer’s disease and associated disorders, conducting research and serving on a number of committees and boards. He is on the Governing Board for the Health Care Systems Research Network, the Board of Directors for the American College of Epidemiology (ACE), and the ACE Foundation Board.
Waring has taught classes at Mayo Clinic, the University of Texas, School of Public Health and the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health/College of Veterinary Medicine, and continues to teach epidemiology at Minnesota-Duluth. He has advised numerous doctoral students, master’s, and professional students.
Waring received a bachelor’s degree in zoology, a master’s in epidemiology and a doctorate in veterinary medicine, all from Texas A&M University. He earned his PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas, School of Public Health, Houston.
He has been an author on numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on topics ranging from zoonotic diseases and disaster epidemiology to Alzheimer’s disease.
“I consider myself fortunate that our paths crossed for a time at Marshfield Clinic,” Keifer said. “During our overlap I had the privilege to work with Steve closely and came to know him personally. I respect him immensely.”
The Journal of Agromedicine annually selects one peer reviewer who exemplifies a commitment to assuring the high scholarly quality of what we publish. Past “Peer Reviewers of the Year”: Stephen McCurdy, MD, MPH, University of California, Davis (2013); Mark Purschwitz, PhD, University of Kentucky (2014); Peter Lundqvist, PhD, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2015); Lorann Stallones, PhD, MPH, Colorado State University (2016); Joan D. Flocks, JD, University of Florida (2017); and the Guest Editors for the issue dedicated to the Socio-ecological Model, Susan Gallagher, MPH; Jill Kilanowski, PhD; Barbara Lee, PhD; Amy K. Liebman, MA, MPA; Kami Silk, PhD (2018); Dennis Murphy, PhD (2019); and Jennifer Lincoln, PhD (2020).