Medical writing’s visibility to outsiders
Medical writing can remain unfamiliar even to people whose education and interests fit the work. Making the profession visible involves explaining its specialist contribution and bringing practising writers into contact with prospective entrants, employers and other professional communities.
Awareness before entering the profession
In an anonymous survey conducted from 13 August to 6 September 2021, 185 medical writing professionals from 17 countries described their awareness of the field. Respondents included 93 in India, 29 in the United Kingdom, 24 elsewhere in the European Union, 11 in Japan, 9 in the United States, 6 in Canada and 13 elsewhere; 87% held a master’s, doctorate or equivalent. Their experience ranged from 0–5 years (26%) through more than 5–10 (29%) and more than 10–15 (24%) to more than 15 years (21%). Seventy-six per cent had been unaware of the field during undergraduate or postgraduate study, 53% learned about it through friends or colleagues, 7% through campus recruitment, and only 9% had professional training before entering it; similar trends appeared in developing and developed countries. Eighty-six per cent favoured introducing medical writing at university, with other suggestions including pharmaceutical-company or agency workshops, job fairs and courses. The survey’s conclusion was that limited awareness needed addressing at university level.
Individual experiences also illustrate discovery by chance: in 2012, one writer reported never encountering the term through school, college and five years of graduate study alongside medical students, until a conversation with a medical writer. In 2014, a president of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) encountered a communications graduate interested in medicine who did not know how to combine the two interests, and supplied professional websites, contact details and ideas for writing samples. She argued that potential entrants include liberal arts students, postdoctoral researchers, healthcare practitioners who enjoy communication beyond brief consultations, and technical-writing students, and that people seeking to combine writing and medicine should be able to discover the career. In 2021, participants in AMWA’s Medical Writing Executives Forum proposed outreach to high schools, colleges and universities, alongside university training and education about medical writing careers.
Misunderstandings of the work
A South African freelance writer in 2023 described being asked whether she wrote prescriptions or worked as a science journalist, and, on mentioning freelancing, who her clients were and how she found them. She regarded these questions as understandable in South Africa, where the profession was still in its infancy, but also described it as obscure to outsiders in the western world. An AMWA president in 2019 described repeated requests to enlarge prescribing-information text, although writing prescribing information had never been part of her job. Another president reported in 2024 that most people she spoke to had not heard of the profession, although many became interested and recognised its value once she explained it.
National contexts illustrate different barriers to recognition:
- In Finland in 2013, the direct translation of “medical writer”, lääketieteellinen kirjoittaja, was not an established job description; an informal question to a patient association’s discussion board produced guesses including medical secretary, transcriptionist, pharmaceutical sales representative and health journalist, but no correct answer.
- Finnish people doing medical writing under other job descriptions might not recognise the name of their work, making wider awareness necessary to reach them and connect them with fellow medical writers.
- In Portugal in 2013, researchers largely working in state-funded universities generally prepared their own documents and were unaware that scientific or medical writers could help; few degrees mentioned or taught medical writing, and students generally discovered it only through unusual initiative or later involvement in research and development.
- In China in 2013, medical writing was commonly equated with manuscripts for journals, with little public awareness of regulatory writing; a Chinese account of medical writing included books, papers, case histories and examination application slips but omitted regulatory writing.
- In Japan, regulatory documents had been written by other functions such as clinical operations before dedicated medical-writing groups were established; pharmaceutical companies’ recognition that high-quality documents could no longer be a side activity helped clarify the writer’s role.
Misunderstanding can concern professional status as well as job content: in a 2015 practitioner’s view, medical writing was underestimated as clerical document assembly and presentation, although writers led groups and processes and contributed to presenting clinical data. She attributed some confusion inside and outside the profession to the wide range of sophistication of practice within it. Another experienced writer argued that the profession had not communicated its value effectively and should advocate more vocally for itself.
Recognition in occupational information and education
A 2015 account identified the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Occupational Information Network, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the UK’s TARGETjobs and Oregon’s Worksource guide as reporting technical-writing statistics without separate medical-writing statistics. It noted classifications of technical writing with journalism in Australia and creative arts in the United States. Its explanation for the low profile combined the profession’s recent emergence in its specialist form, documents mostly intended for nonpublic audiences and an association membership below 5,000.
The same account identified no widely accepted standard texts beyond the AMA and CSE style manuals, which could leave an impression that medical writing meant copyediting. An analysis of almost 80 medical-writing books published since 1900 found that almost all concerned scientific articles, leaving regulatory writing and physician education less represented. Limited academic programmes and the absence of a widespread formal-entry requirement also allowed “accidental” entry to medical writing. Employers and clients should understand the specialist knowledge, skills and experience involved in communicating complex technical information, and distinguish this work from literary, creative, journalistic and popular writing.
Career events and networks
By 2016, NetworkPharma had run entry-level medical-communications career events and workshops for almost a decade in Oxford, Manchester and London, focusing on medical writing and contact with industry experts. Its collaboration with Oxford University’s Medical Sciences Division included a January lunchtime event with expert presentations and agency exhibitions, a career guide updated each March, and a one-day face-to-face employer event planned from May 2016; events were open to university students and staff, students elsewhere and relevant industry workers.
At a Canterbury Christ Church University life-sciences careers fair on 20 January 2016, a writer presented regulatory affairs and medical writing alongside recruiters, suppliers and ecology organisations; students asked about industry news, benefits and risks of medicines, day-to-day work and entry routes. At the University of East Anglia in May 2016, a local freelancer’s talk for doctoral graduates and research staff combined an overview of writing activities with regulatory-writing skills, career tips and resources, agency recruitment presentations and questions; feedback indicated interest and understanding of transferable academic skills, and she was subsequently invited to consider joining the student mentoring programme.
At the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry’s career day on 11 May 2016, a largely bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral audience learned about types of writer, tasks, profiles, progression, advantages and disadvantages, EMWA membership and its internship forum; many had not known the role existed, and one attendee subsequently attended EMWA’s open conference sessions to investigate it. At TOPRA’s inaugural Regulatory Careers Live fair in London on 17 April 2016, more than 100 students and young regulatory-affairs professionals encountered an interactive introduction to medical writing, alongside pharmaceutical, regulatory-agency and contract-research representatives; participants expressed interest in careers and EMWA, and a second fair was planned for 2017.
At the April 2016 CTrials conference in Tel Aviv, approximately 400 people attended and more than half visited the European Medical Writers Association’s (EMWA’s) stand; two executive-committee volunteers staffed it, local members helped, and a targeted follow-up email went to those registering interest. A 20-minute talk introduced important clinical-research documents, and the committee planned to assess the initiative’s impact with a view to expanding its activities. EMWA members also presented at Oxford’s MedComms Networking brunch club in June 2016 and planned to present at the first German Medizin-Kommunikations-Forum that October.
The Life Science Zurich Young Scientist Network, formed by doctoral and postdoctoral researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, connected academia and industry through career activities. Its formats in 2018 included Career Chats with employees describing career paths, roles and workplace culture, sometimes accompanied by human-resources staff explaining vacancies and applications; Company Visits for groups of about 20; Mindset expert panels on social and scientific issues; and the annual Zurich Life Science Day, attended by over 600 young scientists and over 20 companies, with exhibitions and parallel talks. The network aimed for three or four Career Chats and Company Visits sessions from different companies each year. Its Life Science Week offered 20 participants five evenings of career-management and interview coaching, hidden-labour-market information, application guidance and planning of initial career steps. Topics across its events included consulting, scientific communications, regulatory affairs, medical affairs and clinical research, and the network reported that many participants who built networks at its events subsequently found industry positions.
School outreach can begin earlier: AMWA’s president-elect in 2021 worked with local schools to encourage communication in young children, viewing this as a contribution to a diverse future profession.
An association’s ambassador programme
EMWA’s Ambassador Programme recruits experienced members to explain medical writing and membership benefits at university careers events, professional training organisations and medical conferences. In 2012, EMWA was already developing contacts with professional organisations in academia and medicine and preparing careers-fair leaflets, recognising little awareness of the association in communities with a need for writing. By mid-2019, the programme had given 20 presentations around Europe and begun providing speakers for Getting Into Medical Writing events and advertising them at nearby universities; EMWA reported gaining insight into training needs and trends. By late 2018, the programme had a website page with news and past and forthcoming events, and sought experienced presenters who had previously led workshops or served on committees. Notices through 2026 invited experienced medical writers who were EMWA volunteers to become ambassadors and members to identify local career events, with contact through head office or the programme chair. A standing committee to coordinate future events was being organised in 2023; in 2026 the chair retained the ambassador role as sponsorship management transferred to head office.
University and professional audiences
Early engagements included Reading and Zurich universities, clinical-development academies in Rome and Berlin, and the National Congress of Clinical Research in Bucharest. The Bucharest talk on 19 October 2017 reached 200 professionals from health and education authorities, pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations, as well as medical students and investigators, the first EMWA presentation in Romania; a Berlin winter-school talk on 22 February 2018 reached over 30 doctoral students, several of whom had never heard of medical writing. In 2018, talks reached 30 young research physicians in Rome on 16 January, clinical-development trainees in Berlin on 9 March, 30 students at Reading on 31 January, and 40 students at University College London on 6 March, where the accompanying interactive writing course filled within one day of advertising. A Zurich Life Science Day talk took place on 1 February 2018, with two MedTec Europe talks planned for 19 April and an Anglia Ruskin University careers-day talk planned for 18 April. A planned BioM biotechnology and startup event on 5 July 2018 had four topics.
- The role of medical writers in clinical trials and drug development.
- Managing the clinical-study-protocol writing process.
- The clinical-study-report development process.
- Transparency and disclosure.
The subsequent report described a day-long Munich workshop attended by over 20 biotechnology and clinical-development participants, with positive feedback.
At NetworkPharma events in Westminster on 27 June 2018 and Manchester on 13 September, an ambassador answered questions and supplied EMWA information; Westminster drew over 80 postdocs and doctoral students and 15 agencies, and Manchester 14 agencies. A further talk on 25 October reached doctoral and postdoctoral researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Marburg. On 24 September 2018, a three-hour biology-student career talk at the University of the Philippines Cebu reached about 70 students and guests, pairing biotechnology and medical-writing presentations; the students’ account described realising that alternatives to medicine, research and teaching were available.
In 2019, outreach included the Technical University of Berlin’s Job Wonder event, a SciMed careers meeting at Amsterdam’s OBA library with 15 writers and young scientists and a six-writer panel, and a French medical-writers’ careers meeting in Paris on 6 June; University of Westminster and Berlin clinical-academy talks were planned. On 20 November 2019, 15 attendees at a Berlin writers’ meeting discussed EMWA training, certificates, mentoring, entering regulatory writing and realistic client timelines after an ambassador talk. On 12 March 2020, a City, University of London talk and workshop reached 20 students with very positive feedback; on 18 August a presentation reached the PAREXEL Academy in Berlin.
At a Polish-language Warsaw translation and localisation conference on 30 September 2021, 40 attendees asked about education, conference courses, writer profiles, clients and combining writing with translation. A 22 March 2022 SPARK-BIH Educational Forum presentation paired investigational-medicinal-product-dossier writing with an introduction to medical writing and EMWA for academic drug, device and diagnostic-development researchers. A University of Essex presentation on 14 October 2022 reached 40 second-year life-science students asking about certificate costs, freelancing and social media; a German-language webinar on conference abstracts on 10 October reached 25 young scientists of the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology.
University of Florence talks took place on 22–23 June and 4–5 July 2023. On 20 September 2023, 15 postdocs at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology retreat in Plön heard about a writer’s career transition, education, conferences and online resources. Further 2023 engagements included King’s College’s career and employability event at London’s Francis Crick Institute on 16 October, a talk on bridging medicine and communication at West Visayas State University’s Research Café on 15 November, and Stockholm’s Aula Medica ChaSE career conference on 24 November.
On 1 March 2024, Freiburg biomedical-sciences master’s students heard about medical-writing prospects within a week-long science-communication module, asking about freelancing, part-time academic work, PhD requirements and international opportunities. At the University of Essex’s Employability for the Biosciences workshop on 8 October 2024, only 3 of 35 students had previously considered medical writing; the presentation formed part of assessed career-path work and prompted questions about types of writing, internships, freelancing and agencies, with particular interest in salary-survey results. Further talks reached Siena’s scientific-biomedical-communication master’s students on 23 November 2024, regulatory-activities master’s students on 14 February 2025, Surrey bioscience doctoral and postdoctoral researchers on 19 February, and Barcelona molecular-biotechnology master’s students on 25 February. The Siena regulatory-activities talk discussed professional development, mentoring and the 2025 Geoff Hall Scholarship; the Barcelona roundtable distributed journal copies, flyers and QR codes to career resources. A Lund University medical-faculty webinar on 20 October 2025 aimed to broaden doctoral students’ and researchers’ career perspectives, and a Siena information event on 28 January 2026 introduced a new regulatory-medical-writing master’s degree, its professional roles, skills and preparation for entry.
Online events, career fairs and physicians
A 2019 Medic Footprints webinar for doctors considering careers outside practice described regulatory documents and clinical development, a surgeon’s transition into medical communications, and a physician’s work as a book author and publisher. Most attendees initially knew almost nothing about medical writing; after presentations and questions, many wanted to learn more, and a recording was made publicly available. EMWA also reported ambassador participation in a video for doctors considering the transition. A collaboration with the German Scholars Organization, a career-advice and networking body for over 5,000 scientists seeking careers in Germany, produced a public webinar interview on medical-writing careers, transition from academia and EMWA support. A planned EMWA stand at Birmingham’s MediWeek exhibition in March 2020, expected to attract over 3,000 visitors to its hall and 30,000 overall, was rescheduled by organisers to November; attendance remained a hope.
At Birkbeck’s virtual careers fair on 2 November 2020, 30 people attended an ambassador talk and 120 visited a virtual booth offering member videos and a careers issue of the journal. Further virtual presentations reached Southern Denmark doctoral candidates on 10 February 2021, 16 members of the Netherlands Science and Medical Writing Network on 26 February, over 60 Essex life-science students on 14 October, and over 20 active Birkbeck participants on 5 November. At University College London’s Life Sciences Career Week on 11 March 2021, a writing presentation and workshop drew 20 attendees with 40 waiting; university staff managed chat questions answered at set points, a recording served absentees and exercises followed by email with answers. The equivalent online event on 10 March 2022 drew 59 participants, mostly asking how to gain writing and publication experience.
EMWA’s online Getting Into Medical Writing event on 22 September 2022 drew over 300 participants, combining medical-writing, networking, public-writing and association presentations with a programme overview and demonstration of free training resources. On 15 October 2022, a veterinary-careers summit combined a freelancing panel with a prerecorded EMWA talk; over 30 people attended the panel in London with more online, and EMWA reported several new contacts and at least one new member. On 10 November 2022, around 500 employers and prospective entrants attended NetworkPharma’s Heathrow careers event, where EMWA supplied an exhibition table, website demonstrations, training and membership information and journal copies, alongside a three-writer regulatory-careers panel. The online Getting Into Medical Writing event on 22 September 2023 drew 200 people, with association offerings, national-network experience and topic breakouts; the Heathrow event on 25 September again drew over 500 participants. Ambassadors also joined speed networking at Getting Into Medical Writing in Valencia on 8 May 2024, explained the programme and volunteering at the 7 November 2024 conference opening, and attended Stockholm’s ChaSE events on 15 November 2024 and 21 November 2025.
In 2025, EMWA’s president advocated university links for recruiting the next generation and described ambassadors as bridges to regions where medical writing was developing or barriers to participation existed.