Individuals with medical or scientific degrees and having put up experience in their relative fields covering different areas as scientists or in middle/top management are by some way involved in health related communications work. Few may have acquired a degree in English language or Journalism or gained work experience in mass communications, and eventually ended up writing manuscripts relating to research in Pharma or medicine. Medical writing training programs will help professionals from either stream to pursue a career in this exciting field.
Kick starting a professional career as a medical writer is always a tough call. Employers preferably try to hire professionals having decent experience, but how will a writer attain any expertise if no one is willing to employ them? To be on the safer side it is recommended to be well trained and well informed. Training with internship is surely a better choice to increase one’s employability.
Basically there are two fundamental types of medical writers, one being scientific and the other being non-scientific. Normally, scientific medical writers are expected to have an advanced science or medical allied degree in Chemical Sciences, Pharmacy, Life science etc. and then eventually become experienced at writing by finishing up as a medical writer. Non-scientific or Marketing medical writers have a degree in traditional journalism or English and habitually study regarding medicines by performing the task of a medical writer. Scientific medical writers generally do more scientific or research related writing for research professionals primarily involved in basic research and marketing medical writers perform tasks pertaining to product marketing-focussed writing, often for patients or lay persons. Medical writing training is now offered and is introduced in many universities as a major course to meet the requirements of the industry.
The best way of getting into this profession is to enrol with James Lind Institute’s medical writing training courses. James Lind Institute offers freelancing opportunities after the conclusion of training programs. This is a kind of an internship to gain rich experience in medical writing while continuing your education.