Gregory Petsko, best known to BioMed Central for his inimitable comment articles in Genome Biology and BMC Biology, has this year succeeded to the Presidency of the International Union of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists (IUBMB), founded in 1955 to promote the interests of the international life science community and embracing the biochemists and molecular biologists of 70 countries. This year, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) becomes the US partner to this body, with Petsko, former President of the ASBMB, at its head.

Petsko, whose strong human values are reflected in many of his contributions as a columnist for Genome Biology, evinces a firm commitment to the recruitment of minorities and the young to IUBMB, and with his belief in breaking down boundaries (see his recent comment misleadingly entitled ‘Mending walls’), seems ideally suited to promote its aims in helping less advantaged scientists.

His former students, who include some of the most prominent structural biologists in the USA, will testify to his gifts and warmth as a teacher and mentor; and his recent contributions to interdisciplinary meetings, which include a highly topical talk on neurological diseases of aging at TEDMED 2012, and an exceptionally lively chairmanship of the panel discussion on the cancer-obesity connection at our inaugural conference on Metabolism, diet and disease, attest to the breadth of his interests.

We look forward to his chairing the panel discussion at the next Metabolism diet and disease conference in 2014, and of course offer him our congratulations on his new opportunity to make the scientific world, at least, a better place.