Medical Writing

[sKorpia]

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I'm not exactly sure where to ask this so forgive me if it's in the wrong forum.

Does anyone know how to gain experience in medical writing or if you need any sort of higher education beyond undergrad? I'm in a transitional period and ideally would like the chance to use my bachelors degrees in bio and lit. Unfortunately, from what I've dug up, it seems most medical writers get into it after being research assistants or something like that. I don't know anybody personally with whom I could talk so I'm hoping the good people of SDN can help me out here. Thanks!

 

[NapeSpikes]

Most of the medical writers I talked to had PhD's and were former postdoc researchers. Some had a Masters but nothing lower. You can be a medical writing associate, but that would mostly be proof-reading, etc. I may end up doing this for my glide year, too.

 

[Faust]

I'm not exactly sure where to ask this so forgive me if it's in the wrong forum.

Does anyone know how to gain experience in medical writing or if you need any sort of higher education beyond undergrad? I'm in a transitional period and ideally would like the chance to use my bachelors degrees in bio and lit. Unfortunately, from what I've dug up, it seems most medical writers get into it after being research assistants or something like that. I don't know anybody personally with whom I could talk so I'm hoping the good people of SDN can help me out here. Thanks!

REad freelance books. Most medical writing is done by seasoned journalists. Most if not all either have went to school for it or have started off as a journalist's research assistant. It is difficult route though. To begin with, you could contribute articles to university mags or newspapers who are open to public submissions. And query a bunch of internet sites. It is easier to write online for some website. Or else you need to have written articles somewhere. You could also apply for interships at nature, science, et cetera...and get to know people.

 

[Hoberto]

My husband has gone on several interviews for medical writing positions. He has also talked to a few medical writers from his last job.

In our region, new hires require a PhD or MD degree with an excellent publishing record and post-doc experience. Part of the interview process was to take a bunch of data and a short protocol and write a brief abstract or review. He has also had to take a first draft paper with a bit of data and turn it into a publishable article.

People with MS or BS degrees were holdovers who had been with the company for some time and were typically editors rather than writers. I'm not sure if the requirements are the same across the country, but around here you would definitely need a PhD or MD to be one of the high-paid writers.

Now, if you are talking about being a medical writer like for a newspaper or magazine I have no idea how one would get into that. Probably follow Faust's advice and try to get an internship somewhere. I have a friend who writes up manuals for different food manufactureres and she got into it with a BS in writing or journalism or something like that. She writes up the instructions for using a particular machine based on what the engineers describe to her and then workers try to follow her directions. This might be something you could get try. I have seen some ads (on Monster) for similar positions that only require a BS.

Good luck!

 

[FictionalGirl]

sKorpia, I'm finishing up my dual biochemistry and english degrees as well. I"m a fiction writer, but my foray into the science writing world had a lot to do with creative nonfiction. As in any nonfiction if you research it and know enough to write about it. do so. I did undergraduate research, but i didn't write about it very much. too dry, too technical at times. But I have included a lot of my research into my fictional work. So while you don't have to be a Ph.d. you do jus tneed to take what you know and work it into making your nonfiction pieces more interesting. Maybe write some general knowledge type things? .. i'd recommend looking at the best american science writing series. . phenomenal help;.

I'm not exactly sure where to ask this so forgive me if it's in the wrong forum.

Does anyone know how to gain experience in medical writing or if you need any sort of higher education beyond undergrad? I'm in a transitional period and ideally would like the chance to use my bachelors degrees in bio and lit. Unfortunately, from what I've dug up, it seems most medical writers get into it after being research assistants or something like that. I don't know anybody personally with whom I could talk so I'm hoping the good people of SDN can help me out here. Thanks!

 

[mustangsally65]

Most if not all either have went to school for it or have started off as a journalist's research assistant.

I'm not trying to be rude at all here, but this is the second time today I have seen "have went" in a post. It should be "have gone," as far as I know.

I have a degree in English, and would be interested to know more about medical editing/proofreading.

 

[DrJosephKim]

There are various masters programs in biomedical writing, scientific journalism, medical writing, etc. Do a search and you may find some local programs. Otherwise, there are online programs from reputable universities.