Experienced Scientists/Clinicians Moving Into Medical Writing

About 50 percent of the individuals who contact me concerning entering the field of medical writing are career professionals in their chosen specialty, and are considering a lateral transition into a new job. These individuals fall into one of three categories:

1)    those with an MD degree who are looking to either escape from or receive supplementary income to their private practice;
2)    those with a PhD degree who are looking to escape from laboratory work;
3)    more rarely, those with an engineering or IT background who are interested in the life sciences.

I would not advocate making a career transition into medical writing for the sole purpose of escaping from laboratory or clinical work. Dissatisfaction with current jobs should encourage individuals to pursue other interests. Like any career, medical writing comes with its own complement of frustrations and disappointments. Before considering a career in medical writing, an individual should undertake a candid self-appraisal:

Do you enjoy science and medicine? Or are you secretly harboring the fantasy of writing for Rolling Stone? If the answer is the latter, medical writing is almost certainly not for you. It requires dedication and foresight to develop a career in medical writing. You may prefer to keep abreast of scientific and medical advances from a distance without the desire to be involved in the technical “nuts and bolts” of scientific research that is an important part of medical writing. Perhaps you have a greater appreciation for the business end of science, for which strategic consultancy may be a better career option.

Do you write well? Can you write about science with the appropriate depth and gravitas? Be brutally honest or you will waste a lot of time and energy in pursuing a career that may not be appropriate for you. Medical writing (and technical writing in general) is probably not the ideal venue to showcase creative writing styles. My perhaps biased opinion is that a PhD degree is better preparation for a career in medical writing than most other advanced degrees, all other things being equal. “Publish or perish” is the famous cliché of academic research; no such comparable pressure exists for MD and PharmD students. A PhD graduate who has not learned to write capably in the field of science (although not uncommon) has been incompletely trained.

Can you write a variety of content for different audiences?  Versatility of experience in developing content is one of the key differences between junior medical writers (like me) and more seasoned senior medical writers. The composition of the target audience will inform the level of technical detail that goes into the content. For example, peer reviewed medical publications and regulatory writing are targeted to physician specialists and the regulatory authorities, respectively, and as such require a greater attention to technical detail than most other content. Promotional material may be targeted to either physicians or consumers and requires both medical knowledge and marketing savvy, in addition to familiarity federal regulations to avoid running afoul of the FDA’s Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC). Needless to say, medical writing for the general public is a vastly different undertaking than writing for physician specialists, regardless of the type of content.

If you are still with me after all of these qualifications, my advice to all career-transitioners is simply to start writing early and often. Many seasoned medical writers began their careers as freelancers or interns to supplement their graduate student stipends. If you have the opportunity to apply for a federal research grant at any stage of your career, do it. I found grant writing to be an educational and rewarding experience; successful grant writers can easily ply their skills professionally. Similarly, publishing peer-reviewed research articles or reviews make a strong foundation to a writing portfolio.

Freelance writing opportunities abound. Check online job banks, your universities’ career center, and listservs of technical writers’ associations like the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA; membership required). If you are attending a medical conference, advertise your availability to write about it; some blogs prefer to work with writers who already are attending the event because of cost considerations. Better still, create your own blog or become a regular columnist for a preexisting one. Lastly, network with writers associations like AMWA and ISMPP, and online forums like medical writer groups on LinkedIn.

In conclusion, medical writing is a career that is particularly well-suited to individuals making a career transition who bring their own unique skills to the table, provided that they take the time to properly assess their writing qualifications. For those that succeed in making the leap, medical writing affords a stable and rewarding career choice.