Moving from academic research into medical writing
Academic research develops writing, analytical and organisational skills that can support a medical writing career. The transition involves recognising those abilities, testing which work fits, finding opportunities and adapting to different audiences, clients and collaborative workflows.
Transferable research skills
Researchers can overlook abilities acquired through ordinary academic tasks when success is judged mainly through publications or academic appointments. A 2017 survey of about 2,000 doctorate holders identified critical and analytical thinking, problem-solving and effective communication as the most important factors in their current jobs.
Scientific communication experience includes lab meetings, journal clubs, discussions with colleagues and collaborators, conference posters and talks, lab reports, literature reviews, grant reports, articles, reviews, theses, peer review, editing and negotiation with reviewers. Writing a biomedical dissertation, commonly 100–200 pages, provides experience producing substantial technical text; medical writing can require similar volumes much more frequently.
Generating research data develops familiarity with data security, reproducibility and support for hypotheses, while medical writing depends on data being sound and accurately represented. Reading and synthesising large bodies of literature and evaluating conclusions also transfer, although medical writers often develop familiarity across several subjects rather than pursuing one dissertation topic in depth.
Research project management can involve:
- Maintaining an up-to-date laboratory notebook.
- Managing daily, weekly, monthly and annual task lists.
- Optimising and troubleshooting experiments.
- Writing grant proposals and annual grant reports.
- Managing budgets and reducing laboratory costs.
- Organising conferences or events.
- Envisaging success.
- Developing leadership skills.
- Delegating tasks.
- Building and maintaining collaborations.
- Completing a thesis on time.
Time and self-management include working with limited supervision, handling pressure and meeting tight deadlines, with grant proposals requiring plans for three to five years ahead. Multicentre and multidisciplinary collaborations develop experience with stakeholders, expectations, projects and difficult real-world data.
Research also develops adaptability through troubleshooting, learning from mistakes, running parallel projects and prioritising. Medical writers use adaptability when switching therapeutic areas, document types and products. Creative research problem-solving—borrowing methods, trying new analyses or devising procedures—can also help writers find ways to present and discuss a product using information beyond the natural sciences.
Career fit and practical trials
Researchers considering medical writing can assess three aspects of fit:
- Interest in grant writing, publication and manuscript review as well as experiments can fit the variety of writing work; an unwillingness to spend time away from the bench may make it less appealing.
- Enjoying opportunities to explain research can fit communication with varied audiences; reluctance to discuss work with non-experts may make the constant communication overwhelming.
- Curiosity beyond a single research topic can sustain engagement across subjects; avoiding other fields may make changing demands frustrating.
A postdoctoral researcher questioning his academic future identified accuracy, precision, detection of errors and clear explanation as strengths that were not being fully used. Funding difficulties, limited publication opportunities, short contracts, a prospective pay ceiling and restricted recognition of teaching contributed to his reassessment, and a second postdoc did not resolve those concerns.
He explored job advertisements and entered writing competitions to test styles and audiences. Winning a competition brought an opportunity to work with a journal editor on reporting a one-day conference, increasing his confidence and understanding of science publishing. Conversations with writing companies at a university careers event led to an open day at a regulatory writing firm, where the work matched his interests; he then completed its recruitment process. Trying different writing styles and revising career assumptions helped him identify a suitable direction.
Confidence, connections and first offers
Researchers interested in medical writing may lack information, training, experience, connections and confidence to make the move. Self-doubt about personal worth can also obstruct consideration of a career beyond academia.
A biochemist who had unsuccessfully applied for more than 30 postdoctoral positions used career coaching to identify an interest in writing. An experienced medical writer helped her recognise her value, and association involvement, conferences, editing work and volunteering helped establish her new career. A freelance client, initially referred by an association colleague, offered her a full-time science editing position.
A molecular cell biologist reconsidered research after a failed experiment and three fellowship rejections. An industry-transition association introduced him to alternative careers, while improving his professional profile, networking, EMWA involvement and a mentor provided confidence and first-hand writing experience. After eight applications, including seven writing or science communication roles and six rejections, a former lab colleague alerted him to a science communication post; a doctoral mentor's referral supported his application, and he received an offer six days after the interview. Plans he presented for the research magazine and his first months in the job impressed the interviewers.
Another doctorate holder sent more than 100 industry applications, producing three interviews and no offer, before refining her profile, CV and pitch and focusing on regulatory writing at Asian CROs. Informational interviews, courses and networking connected her to mentors, recruiters and EMWA; one recruiter returned a month after their first contact with a Shanghai opportunity. She had previously applied to that company directly without receiving a response. Four interviews in two weeks led to an associate manager of medical writing offer, despite her application for a medical writer role.
A biologist with six years of research experience in Switzerland explored medical writing through EMWA's Internship Forum and began work in Taiwan through a referral six months later. A postdoc experiencing burnout entered writing after a graduate-school friend invited her to join a writing team.
Three researchers who made the transition recommended eight practices:
- Network authentically with peers, prospective colleagues, academics and business people, online and offline.
- Ask genuine questions about relevant jobs, roles and companies.
- Revive dormant connections and explain career goals; referrals can come from unexpected people.
- Start building relationships early.
- Recognise and use the transferable skills developed during doctoral training.
- Add value to relationships before requesting favours.
- Find a mentor who wants the mentee to grow.
- Recognise the value of doctoral training.
New demands in healthcare communications
Communications agencies require information to be tailored for leading experts, general physicians, nurses, other health professionals and the public. Experience explaining research to non-expert proposal reviewers provides a starting point. Doctoral experience can also help writers draw out academic experts' knowledge and make them comfortable in a marketing setting. Explaining specialised science to account managers, designers and clients provides further practice making complex information understandable.
Agency work can require learning to use qualitative market research and behavioural economics, since some communication problems cannot be resolved through hypothesis testing or statistical significance. Moving from conventional research presentations into promotional formats, tones and styles can also be difficult. Experience promoting one's own research may help, and conviction in a product's value and patients' need can support conveying its evidence enthusiastically.
First months in regulatory writing
Two researchers found regulatory writing posts within six months of graduating. One researcher entering a Shanghai CRO encountered a new career, country, workplace culture and working language together. Her induction combined training materials and procedures with immediate client tasks, and learning on the job suited her better than weeks of observation.
She found regulatory writing faster and more collaborative than academic manuscripts, with input needed from experts in other departments. Her first project, a phase IV protocol, was reviewed and submitted within two and a half months of her arrival while she worked on other projects. Compared with her academic experience of manuscripts taking six months to a year, deadlines were tighter, comments were handled as work progressed, and scheduled meetings followed agendas and ended promptly.
Breadth across therapeutic areas replaced the depth of a single academic topic for another new writer, who might work on lung cancer, hepatitis and influenza products in one day. Collaboration included experienced writers, biostatisticians, medical experts, sponsors, clinical research associates and project managers, as well as internal data management, clinical operations and business development teams and external physicians, scientists, innovators and sometimes regulators. Working across those groups felt engaging rather than lonely despite time spent writing alone. The move also required keeping up with changing regulatory requirements across Europe and Asia.
After eighteen months, a former postdoc described adapting to clients' required documents as his biggest adjustment, while work across drugs, diseases and devices broadened his scientific horizons.