“There is nothing permanent except change,” said the Greek philosopher Heraclitus; and Townsend Letter has dealt with multiple changes over the past 40 years, including its name! It began as Townsend Letter for Doctors (TLfD), in 1983, expanded to Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients (reflecting the number of educated laypeople who subscribed) in 2004, and then settled on its current name Townsend Letter – The Examiner of Alternative Medicine. As Jonathan Collin mentioned in “Letter from the Publisher” (page 6), this issue is the last edition of Townsend Letter.

What began as an “informal newsletter for doctors communicating to doctors,” early in 1983, matured into a magazine with an international reputation for presenting the clinical experiences of alternative/integrative doctors and practitioners. Unlike professional journals that specialize in one branch of medicine, Townsend Letter has always embraced multiple schools of medical practice, including nutritional, orthomolecular, functional, homeopathic, naturopathic, chiropractic, botanical, anti-aging, energy modalities, acupuncture, massage therapy, and applied kinesiology. And the magazine has always welcomed real-world clinical observations and viewed such empirical evidence as being the first step in medical research. As Jonathan Collin wrote in the January 1994 issue, “…providing to professionals and public the thoughts and practices of an alternative practitioner is invaluable. It is only when such thoughts have public expression that peer review begins to take place.”