Valda Vinson is Editor (Research) at Science. She came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar and after completing a Ph.D. and post-doctoral studies, spent 2 years as a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. She started her career in publishing when she joined the Science staff in 1999. Since then, she has handled research papers in the areas of structural biology, biochemistry, and biophysics as an Associate and Senior Editor. In 2013 Dr. Vinson became Deputy Editor, overseeing research content in the areas of cellular and molecular biology and biomedicine, and in 2018 was named Editor, Research. As Editor she works with Life Science editors to attract and select exciting research papers and reviews, while following standards that support transparency and reproducibility. She also works with others on the editorial management team on editorial policies at Science and is involved in initiatives that bring together stake-holders within the publishing industry to discuss policies.