From Practicing Vet to Medical Writer

Many people are curious about how I ended up as a medical writer. Even when I was very young, I was always reading and writing stories, and most people thought I'd write novels, become a journalist, or a college professor. Yep, I was one of those kids--crazy hair, cat eye glasses with thick lenses, nose always in a book. But I also grew up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania and loved animals.

I guess my education reflects these two interests: I have a BA in English and a doctorate in veterinary medicine. ​After graduating from vet school, I ran a successful solo veterinary practice for 12 years. But I found myself interested in medicine beyond animals, which led me to study Traditional Chinese Medicine in a 3-year masters-level program at New England School of Acupuncture. Before transitioning to medical writing, I spent 7 years as a Massachusetts state-licensed acupuncturist, both people and animals--a truly mixed practice!

Eventually, however, I had to address my longing for a less stress-filled life. I'd always wanted to work with words but wasn't sure how to combine my fascination with biology and medicine with writing that could sustain me financially. I dabbled a little journalism, writing veterinary articles for my city newspaper and a couple of magazines. Then out of the blue, a staff writer position popped up at a local publishing company that was a leader in creating patient education pamphlets--remember those? They also created educational materials for K-12 schools, state health departments, the US Military, and national organizations like the American Heart Association. I had a couple of interviews, took a writers' test, and got the job!

This was a fantastic learning experience for me--it was my first time working in a corporate setting and not only did I learn about how to create patient education materials, but I also learned about project management, workflows, editing and design--and teamwork!

After a couple of years, I grew a little bored. I was happy that I was creating materials that were helping patients, but the patient education landscape was changing, and unfortunately, the company I was working for was not. I started to become aware of the growing field of medical writing, primarily through following the American Medical Writers' Association. It dawned on me that I could be writing for physicians, not just consumers--and that I had the background and writing skills to do it. It was also a field that was amenable to independent contractors, which was appealing. After doing a lot of research and planning, I resigned from my staff writer job and plunged into the unknown waters of freelance medical writing.

In all honesty, I really had no idea what I was doing. I picked up a potpourri of assignments from smaller publishers and magazines, including a local healthcare B2B magazine, a magazine focused on the Joint Commission, and others. I started talking to people who might know a little more than me. I went to some AMWA conferences. Then, not too much later, I applied to Medscape Medical News (WebMD) as a freelance medical conference reporter and got the job. So, most of my first year in medical writing involved traveling to medical meetings across the country, interviewing physicians, and writing up news of important medical research findings.

This developed into my "big break" and provided me with a portfolio that proved to potential clients that I understood the data, could write quickly and effectively, and that I could communicate with physicians. After I had this under my belt, I started getting work from larger CME companies--and the rest, as they say, is history.

A final note about my DVM degree

For many years, I de-emphasized the fact that I had a doctorate in veterinary medicine because I'd encountered potential clients who mistakenly assumed I knew nothing about human medicine: that I was an old-fashioned "horse doctor" and somehow not up to snuff, so to speak. Over time, I've come to recognize that this misconception is based on the fact that most people are just unaware that the foundations of veterinary medicine rely on the exact same biological principles as human medicine (we're all animals, right?) Certainly, the education required to become a vet can be more grueling and demanding than medical school -- we have to learn about all species, except our own, and it's far, far more difficult to get accepted to vet school than medical school, even though the prerequisites are identical.

Now, granted, I'm not an MD, but my experience in private practice working with an incredible variety of people, their animals, and disease states has given me a tremendous wealth of knowledge that other medical writers with. say, only bench experience, are lacking--namely, situations that doctors of any type face in clinical practice. For me, this has been a key factor in my success as a medical writer: I may not be an MD, but I at least have an idea of what issues are most pressing for physicians.

In the end, my success in medical writing has come down to just a few things: the ability to write well, knowledge of the general principles of biology and medicine, and treating my colleagues/clients with respect, professionalism, and kindness.