The most impactful career decision of my life was leaving a comfortable job as a “lab rat” in a biotechnology company to return to the university to earn my PhD. After a rather inauspicious beginning to a biomedical research career in academia, I worked for over 5 years as a research associate in the R&D division of a genomics company, performing tasks from basic research to quality control of therapeutics. I earned an MS in a part-time, professionals program concurrently, but that degree was not sufficient for me professionally. I wanted to be able to more directly impact  the course of research projects.

I began a PhD program at University of Pennsylvania during the fall of 2001. My intent had always been to return to the biotechnology industry as a full-fledged scientist, so I selected a thesis laboratory with that goal in mind; to learn transferrable skills and perhaps even work on an industry-sponsored project. I gravitated to a laboratory researching cell signaling, a subject of which I knew relatively little about.

Like most people, I had always thought of a PhD as a specialist’s degree whose skill set is only useful for scientists in pharmaceutical companies, the university, or federal laboratories. Although a student will specialize within a given field of study, a graduate career should train him to: 1) utilize his time more efficiently; 2) approach ANY research project using a scientific methodology; 3) track down and absorb large amounts of new information rapidly; and 4) write all manner of scientific-based content in a professional manner.

I realized relatively early during the course of my graduate career that I had a facility with writing. I enjoyed collecting relevant research data and preparing grant proposals, reviewing articles and abstracts. I possibly enjoyed it a little too much at the expense of my “wet” lab work, and it likely contributed to a lengthier than average graduate career. These writing projects, however, were to shape my entry into the profession of medical writing.

Extracurricular projects in graduate school are as important as graduate work in developing the proper skills for medical writing. These projects allow a specialist to broaden his scope of understanding to include the intersection of science and business, law, etc. I joined the Penn Biotech Group and eventually lead two consulting project teams. One project involved the preparation of a state-of-technology report for the Penn Center for Technology Transfer (CTT). CTTs protect a universities’ intellectual property by the management of their patents and copyrights, and are excellent resources for individuals contemplating a medically-related legal career (eg, pharmaceutical patent law). There are typically numerous opportunities for a student to volunteer his services (eg, patent review) and gain valuable crossover experience. A second project involved the development of a marketing plan for a proprietary water toxicity test. This project allowed me to gain a better insight into marketing and other nonscientific aspects of strategic consulting to which I otherwise would not have been exposed.

After graduation, I searched in vain for a position as a research scientist at a pharmaceutical company. Instead, I was fortunate enough to be offered a position as a medical writer at a health communications company, with a primary role in publication planning. After nine months in this specialty, I am putting my graduate skills in writing publications and consulting to good use. I often field questions about how to break into medical writing from individuals with advanced science degrees who appear unhappy in their current vocation. Some may hope that freelance writing will allow them to work with a laptop at a seaside café, sipping margueritas. Unfortunately, many individuals of scientific accomplishment do not write sufficiently well to succeed in medical writing without sufficient guidance, and few companies are willing to provide that help. Medical communications is a high-pressure business, replete with unrealistic deadlines, budgetary constraints, and stress headaches. It is also exciting, dynamic, and remunerative for those successful individuals who are “in it for the long haul.”

For technically-minded individuals without a natural proclivity for writing, these skills may be learned to an extent. There are useful resources available to facilitate the development of one’s writing skills, even for accomplished writers. Examples include: the American Medical Writer’s Association (AMWA), International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW). These associations offer diverse courses in proper grammatical usage, biomedical specialties, regulatory writing for therapeutics, and freelance writing, just to name a few. They also have active local chapters, newsletters, networking opportunities, and discussion boards. Finally, many colleges and universities now offer formal degrees and/or certification technical writing, science writing, medical writing, marketing writing, biomedical writing, and regulatory writing.

In summary, the university environment is an excellent resource in developing one’s writing portfolio and general work experience (read: resume) before entering the job market. Students have the opportunity to successfully complete several projects, both academic and extracurricular, with minimum time investment that will help define and enhance their chosen specialty. Although most of my medical writing work is, and will remain, primary scientific, I have had opportunities to “stretch my legs” into advertising and marketing, with satisfying results. Graduate school prepared me well for these undertakings.