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Careers in Medical Writing
Rebecca Turner
Scientific Director,
Gardiner-Caldwell U.S.
December 7, 2004
Introduction
 Academic background
– BSc Hons animal science (Nottingham)
– PhD in reproductive immunology (Newcastle)
– 2½ years post-doc tumour immunology (Liverpool)
 Medical writing experience
– 18 months as a medical writer at Adis International
– 3 years (and still going…) at Gardiner-Caldwell U.S.
(Macclesfield and New Jersey), currently ‘Scientific
Director’
Careers in medical writing….
 What is exactly is a medical writer?
– Role of medical communication agencies in the
pharma. industry
 What does it take to do the job?
 Roles and responsibilities
 Career structure and expectations
 Getting a foot in the door
Medical writers
Medical communication
agencies
Pharma. companies
Scientific press
Advertising agencies
Clinical research
organisations
Freelancers
Medical communication agencies:
provide support for the pharma. industry
Product/publication managers
Clinical scientists
New drug
Publications
Events
activity
Medical education and
communications
Exhibitions
New
media
A successful
launch and
beyond
Strategic
Internal
consultancy training
Medical writers are central to the
agency team
Creative and
Production
eMed/Web
solutions
Account
Editorial
management
Congress
Finance
HR, IT
Medical writers have different
backgrounds
 BSc – medical/life science
 PhD (and post-doc/lecturers)
 Pharmacy
 Pharma. industry
 Medicine
 Journalism
 Other
Immunology is a great background for
medical writing
 Oncology
 Anti-infectives
– HIV
 Auto-immune diseases
– RA
– Diabetes
 Allergy/respiratory
 Dermatology
 Supportive care
Ability to understand research
techniques is applicable to
all subjects
Key attributes to fulfill the role
Communication
written/verbal
Team work
Goal focused
Ability to quickly understand
and interpret scientific data
Accuracy
(Grammar)
Organisational
skills
Flexibility, commitment, ability to work under pressure,
business awareness
But…..training is an essential
part of the job
Typical projects: all accounts
are different
 Primary manuscripts and reviews
– Writing and editing
 Congress activities
– Poster and oral presentation development
 Satellite/stand-alone symposia
– Agenda, content development, on-site liaison
 Promotional materials
– Slide kits, monographs etc.
 Training/internal materials
 Publication and communication planning
Role and responsibilities: typical project
 Liaise with account management regarding project
scope, timelines and ultimately budget
 Work with client and author on content
 Liaise with internal teams as necessary
 Develop materials
 Revise in line with client and author expectations
 Manage quality through final production stages
Senior editorial staff are ultimately responsible for
delivering items to the required standard, on time
and within budget
Day-to-day activities
 Writing-and-delivering (all stages)
 Meetings
– Your team/s, internal customers, clients and
authors (all the time!)
 Training (on the job, internal and off-site)
 Foreign travel
– Client meetings, new business and congresses
– ‘as necessary to fulfill role’
Career structure
Associate medical writer
Training/delivery
Entry level
Medical writer
Delivery
Senior medical writer
Review, training, acct. dev
Scientific director
Review, strategic
acc. dev, new business
Principal writer
Training, review,
key accounts
Editorial unit manager
Editorial vice president
Editorial team leader
Review, management
Getting a foot in the door
UK agencies
 TGCG (NW/SE)
 ADIS International (NW/SE)
 Continuing medical communications (CMC) (NW/SE)
 Adelphi (NW/SE)
 Prime Medica (NW)
 MediTech Media (NW/SE)
 Phase V (SE)
 Wells Medical (SE)
 Pope Woodhead (SE)
Agencies are always looking
for good staff –
don’t wait for an advert
 Medical Action Communications (MAC) (SE)
 Parexel (SE)
 OCC (SE)
 Numerous smaller agencies
Gardiner-Caldwell explored
 Until recently, largest independent specialist
medical communications agency
 Founded 1983, 21 years’ experience
 500 staff in UK and US
 Specialist knowledge and experience in all major
therapeutic areas
 Serves the major pharmaceutical companies
(35 clients, 65 products)
 80+ medical writers (PharmD, PhD, MD)
Agencies are looking for….
 Clinically-relevant background (Inc. research)
 Publication record
 Peer-review/journal involvement
 Congress activities
Demonstrates
understanding,
not research skills
 Training/lecturing/organisation
 Appreciation of the role of agencies in pharma.
 Test-project: flow/story, accuracy, clarity
 Interview: confident, good communication skills,
enthusiasm
What you should ask
 Training programme (formal/informal)
 No. of staff (consider large vs small)
 Office locations
 No. of clients
 Key therapy areas
 Core business (writing, meetings, e-med?)
 Structure – are writers assigned to specific
accounts?
The downside
 Competition for ‘new’ writer positions
 Limited choice of therapy area
 Little time to delve into detail/personal interest
 In the end…….the client is always right (and not all are nice!)
 Economic downturn = lower budgets = pressure on writers to
deliver quality in minimum time
 Workload peaks and troughs/travel
 Multiple ongoing projects
 Fast moving, delivery driven…..possibly/probably stressful
The upside
 Fast moving, driven, dynamic….rewarding
 Applying science background to ‘something a bit different’
 Opportunity for rapid career progression
 Cutting edge
 Exposure to new scientific/clinical information
 Travel
 Variety and creativity
 Identifying opportunities for improvements and/or new
business
 Learning from and mentoring others
 The pharma industry will ALWAYS need good medical writers
Last word……
(and feel free to ask me anything else!)