Entering medical writing without a science degree
A science degree is not the only route into medical writing. Writing, editing, language and communication experience can provide a foundation, with further learning and careful assignment choices needed to meet the scientific demands of the work.
Entry and further learning
A professional writer with nearly a decade's experience entered freelance medical writing without previous writing experience in health, medicine or science. He considered his learning curve no steeper than that of scientists or clinicians who needed to demonstrate writing ability. Entrants should be honest about what they know and do not know, then commit to learning what is missing as medical science continues to advance.
For entrants unsure of their scientific background, a writer with journalism, teaching and public health experience recommended:
- Start with existing strengths in writing, editing or research.
- Learn about different types of medical writing and talk to people doing them to identify areas of interest.
- Take a course or two through a professional association or school and see what fits.
- Try freelancing or subcontracting to another writer.
- Talk to agencies and companies in the sectors and specialties of interest.
- Consider medical science courses to learn vocabulary, methods, research and implementation.
- Understand personal motivations and use them to guide the work pursued.
A career adviser in 2009 considered full-time company employment easier to obtain than freelance clients for a writer without a science degree.
Communication and humanities backgrounds
One editor entered medical editing without attending college. Having worked as a legal secretary, she earned extra money typing students' dissertations and theses, insisting that authors sit with her to discuss proposed changes. A friend at a medical school recognised that she was already editing and brought her into an editorial role; over the next ten years, she edited 19 textbooks and several hundred scholarly papers.
Another entrant had studied music, English, German and international marketing and taught languages before applying successfully for a medical editor post at a university surgery department in 1990. She had not known what medical editing involved but knew she could write. She later recognised contributions from each part of her background: music supported attention to detail, English and German supported grammar and language structure, German fostered understanding of writers using English as an additional language, and business study helped her organise freelance work.
A journalist and editor developed author collaboration, editing and deadline skills before teaching English internationally, which strengthened her understanding of language and concise writing for comprehension. A postgraduate certificate in project management for international development and relief, including a year's study of programme design and proposal development, provided the foundation for her grant writing. While studying public health part-time, she wrote six- and seven-figure emergency healthcare grant applications, later writing donor proposals and interpreting epidemiological data as a public health project manager in francophone Africa. Her public health degree developed familiarity with journals, medical terminology and statistics, while fieldwork contributed intercultural communication and experience presenting research.
Assignment depth and learning time
An experienced freelancer without an advanced degree had written abstracts, posters, manuscripts, symposia, continuing education, advisory board materials, sales training, promotion and patient education, with regulatory experience limited to patient narratives. He considered no area of medical writing inherently closed to someone without an advanced science degree, while recognising limits on depth and possible differences in the time needed to learn a subject.
An assignment on a drug's molecular mechanism is probably unsuitable without deep molecular biology knowledge and experience. An unfamiliar therapeutic area, highly specialised audience and a timetable tight even for an expert can also make a project unsuitable. A less specialised assignment can provide a useful challenge when there is enough time to learn and synthesise the material to the required depth.
A journalism graduate who had worked in advertising and business-school communications built a medical writing practice serving healthcare marketing agencies, hospitals, disease associations, professional societies and other health organisations. Her projects included newsletters, magazine articles, web content, blogs, patient education guides, case studies and reports. She considered returning to study science but remained with work she enjoyed and reported making a good living from it for more than twenty years.