Collaboration—a mutually beneficial partnership that leverages the resources, expertise, and creativity of all involved parties to accomplish a common goal—has long been considered a solid strategy to maximize the potential for creating winning solutions. Today, however, collaboration is more than just a strategy; it is key to maintaining a competitive edge and pushing the boundaries of innovation.

For these very reasons, most companies, including those in the eye care space, team up with practitioners as a means to strengthen their market share, give their products greater reputability, and, ultimately, expand the scope of patient care. This collaboration is equally fruitful for practitioners, who as opinion leaders can quickly advance among the ranks of their peers and contribute thoughts and ideas on a larger scale beyond what they could in their individual practices.

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Opinion leaders also act as liaisons between industry and their fellow professionals, and they often influence the opinions and practices of these others. But they also appreciate and acknowledge the insights of their peers, finding commonalities in the wants and needs of eye care professionals and figuring out with industry how to deliver solutions to these problems.

In this issue’s cover focus, we present the thoughts of 10 well-known opinion leaders in ophthalmology and discover the keys to and benefits of successful collaboration with industry. Within this anthology of collaboration, one common theme resonates: There is no such thing as the perfect model for an opinion leader, and everyone brings something unique to the table. Maybe it is this fact that helps ophthalmology remain one of the top specialties in health care.

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The editorial team at Bryn Mawr Communications, affectionately referred to as BMC by many of you, has taken a page from this anthology and increased our own collaborative efforts. We’re starting fresh in the New Year and instituting some changes that should help bring CRST to new heights. We are standing strong on the foundation that Gillian McDermott, MA, built over the years as Editor-in-Chief, but we are injecting new life into the publication by incorporating bolder layouts, including more thoughts and opinions from our readers, and presenting articles that provide answers to the questions on the minds of every ophthalmologist today. In all these efforts, our goal is to remain at the forefront of clinical relevance.

In this, my first issue as Editor-in-Chief of CRST, I look forward to developing more impactful content in 2018 and beyond. I hope that you enjoy our new look and will continue to depend on us as the best resource for peer-to-peer education in ophthalmology.

Laura Straub
Editor-in-Chief