Careers in Medical Writing

In the last month, I have had the pleasure of being invited to two careers events at local universities here in Montreal. The first was the Science Career day organized by Career and Placement Services at Concordia University. The second was an information evening on careers in science writing hosted by the Graduate Students Association for Neuroscience at McGill University. It was fabulous to see so many students interested in medical writing as a career.

As I mentioned at both events, the demand for science and medical writers is growing. South of the border, the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics says that writing is consistently a strongly employable field. It also goes a step further, commenting specifically that demand for writers with expertise in science is medicine will increase in coming years because of the “continuing expansion of scientific and technical information and the need to communicate it to others,” especially for a general audience.

A relatively recent Services Canada Occupational Outlook (2006-2008) states that writing careers in Quebec continue to benefit from the “strong performance posted by the information and professional, scientific and technical services industries.” They cite specialty information channels and the Internet as being strongly responsible for the growth. During the same period, the unemployment rate in all writing fields in Quebec, including creative and translation, was less than 3%. It did not break down prospects or unemployment rates into individual writing fields, but no matter how you look at it, odds are pretty good that if you have the credentials and the talent, there should be no shortage of work.

I've uploaded onto Slideshare the presentation I made with Nathalie Ross at the GSAN event. I hope you find it useful!

Careers in Medical Writing

Medical Writing I: Manuscripts at Concordia this Semester

I've been confirmed to teach the Medical Writing I: Manuscripts (CEJN 130) at Concordia's School of Extended Learning this semester. Classes are every Tuesday from 6pm to 8pm starting September 20th and running for 10 weeks.

Description: Students will learn how to access, understand and evaluate information on medical topics, including primary research articles, review articles, practice guidelines and poster presentations. Included in the discussion will be literature searches, document preparation, charts and tables, abstracts, guidelines for publication, and covering conferences as a medical journalist. Students will learn how to write an abstract, a clinical paper, and a review or magazine article.

The cost is $255. You can register in-person, by mail or by fax until the start of class. If you are already a Concordia student you can also register online via MyConcordia. The registration form is here. Please direct any registration-related questions to Communications and Public Relations. You can direct any course-related questions to me via e-mail.

Please note that if the course does not minimum enrollment then the class is cancelled. I often don't find this out until a few days before class starts. In the event of a cancellation, you will be notified by the University. If this happens, please feel free to contact me, since I do occasionally teach workshops not affiliated with Concordia. I can add you to my mailing list so you can find out when they are.

UPDATE: Concordia just confirmed that the class will definitely run this semester.

Mini-Med & Mini-Pharma at McGill

Mini-Med and Mini-Pharma at McGill have teamed up to offer weekly lectures on a great line-up of medical topics. They include, embryology, cardiology, obesity and diabetes, infectious disease, Alzheimer's disease, and neuroscience.

If you're free Wednesday nights and you're looking to learn more about these topics, register soon. My past experience is that they fill up quickly. The lectures are at a lay-person level, which makes them accessible and easy to understand. They are also packed with information and current research.

Intro to Medical Writing Presentation

Last June I was honoured to co-present a workshop on medical writing at the PWAC annual conference with fellow medical writer Giancarlo La Giorgia. In the presentation we discussed the scope of medical writing, what it takes to break into and succeed in the field, some basic tools of the trade, and some tips for finding work.

Here are the slides from the presentation. We hope you find it useful.

Medical Writing 101 (PWAC)

View more presentations from Amanda Strong.

Event: Navigating Promotional Material Through PAAB

The next Montreal American Medical Writer’s Association (AMWA) networking meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 22nd at 7pm. It is entitled “Navigating Promotional Materials Through the PAAB Landscape: A Behind-the-Scenes Look”.

The evening is being organized by Crystal Kaczkowski and the guest speaker will be Lara Holmes, an experienced medical writer/copywriter who has been working in pharma advertising for the past 14 years. During that time, she has had extensive experience with PAAB. The intention of this presentation is to provide some “inside” information on how to avoid the common pitfalls of developing promotional materials for PAAB review.

The topics that will be covered are:

• Product Monograph insight
• Claims support (acceptable references)
• Adapting global/US materials
• Promotional pieces “wish lists”
• Launching a new product
  

Members and non-members are both welcome to this discussion. If you are interested, please RSPV to Crystal at medicalwriter@videotron.ca by Tuesday, June 22 EOD so she know how many chairs to tell the restaurant to set up. (Since traffic can be unpredictable, she has arranged the reservation for 6:45pm, so it is fine to come a bit earlier than 7pm).

Wi Sushi
3697, boul. St-Jean corner Devon
West Island, QC, H9G 1X2 | Dollard-des-Ormeaux
514.696.3399

Medical Writing 101 on June 18th, 2011 in Montreal

I'm really pleased to announce that I will be co-presenting an introduction to medical writing at the Professional Writers' Association of Canada (PWAC) national conference on June 18th, 2011 in Montreal.

Medical Writing 101
Are you curious about medical writing but not sure exactly what it is, what qualifications you need, or what kind of writing work is out there? Join Amanda Strong and Giancarlo La Giorgia as they share their experience writing for the pharmaceutical industry and medical publishers. Learn the basic tools of the trade, how you can build your portfolio, and where to find work.

The professional developmen presentation is mostly an information session about medical writing, the skills and education you need to succeed in it, and how to break into the various sectors of the field. The course fee is $80 ($60 for PWAC members), or free if you register for the full conference ($325 for non-members, $275 for PWAC members).

Here are the other professional development session taking place on the Saturday being presented at the PWAC conference:

• Editors Panel with Susan Nerberg (Deputy Editor, enRoute), Drew Nelles (Editor in Chief, Maisonneuve) and Carmine Starnino (Senior Editor, Reader's Digest)
• Writing for Trade Magazines: Breaking In and Staying In with Suzanne Boles
• Unleash Your Inner Entrepreneur: Panel with Hugh McGuire, Ben Yoskovitz, Jean-Benoit Nadeau & Craig Silverman
• Medical Writing with Amanda Strong and Giancarlo La Giorgia
• Computer-Assisted Reporting in 2011: A Journalist's Guide to Twitter, Facebook, and New Mobile Tools with Elias Makos
• The Pitch of your Life: Writing Book Proposals with Julie Barlow
• On Solid Grounds: Write to Live with Jean-Benoit Nadeau
• Travel & Food Writing with Alexandra Forbes

Complete descriptions, as well as information about other events--such as the Intensive Workshop on Contracts, Negotiation Skills and Small Claims Court--and registration are available on the PWAC site.

Upcoming AMWA Workshop in Montreal

How to ensure your website never makes you any money as a freelancer
American Medical Writer’s Association meeting, Wednesday, Oct 6th, 2010
Location : La Milsa Poisson, 1431 Bishop, Montreal (just North of St. Catherines.)

The American Medical Writer’s Association (AMWA) invites you to our next networking meeting on Wednesday, Oct 6th at 6:45 pm entitled “How to ensure your web site never makes you any money as a freelancer.” Andy Gural presents a tongue in cheek talk about how to improve your web presence. Both AMWA members and non-members are welcome to this dinner meeting. There is no charge other than what you order for your own food and beverages.

Please RSVP to medicalwriter@videotron.ca by Monday, Oct 4th at the latest so I know how many chairs to tell the restaurant to set up, but note that you will not receive a confirmation.

Location : La Milsa Poisson, 1431 Bishop, Montreal (just North of St. Catherines)
514-282-6666
www.lemilsa.com

Organizer:
Crystal Kaczkowski
Freelance Medical Writer/Copywriter
514-585-3077
medicalwriter@videotron.ca
www.medwrite.ca

AMWA Dinner: Professional Uses of Social Media

The Montreal members of AMWA-Canada are planning an informal open roundtable discussion on the Professional Uses of Social Media at Stash Café, Old Montreal, on January 28th. I'm sure there will be some gem of information for everyone, whether you're new to social media or already using some of the tools. Here is there announcement:

AMWA Open Roundtable: Professional Uses of Social Media
How many remember the good old CompuServe, AOL, Prodigy or other proprietary dial-up days? 9600-baud modems? Audio couplers? Those ISP services are the rudimentary forms of the social media we use and mostly take for granted today. The AMWA Canada chapter hosts a moderated discussion of some social networking tools/environments in current use.

Especially useful for medical writers are AMWA's own listserves, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We’ll also mention the free, self-administered network creation tools Ning and Yahoo Groups.

Bring your own experiences, tips and ideas to share with other medical writers on successfully using social media to enhance your professional context and generate business. Discussion will be moderated by AMWA member Everett Larsen, who also serves as President of STC Montreal.

Where? Our favourite Polish restaurant…

200 Rue Saint-Paul O
Montreal, QC H2Y 1Z9
(514) 845-6611
www.stashcafe.com

6:30-8:30 pm, Thursday, January 28

Please RSVP to medicalwriter@videotron.ca by Monday, January 25th so I can let the restaurant know how many people to expect.

Any technical questions about the content to be covered should be addressed to Everett at larsene@primelink1.net

Everett Larsen & Crystal Kaczkowski

Medical Writing Course at Concordia

Concordia University in Montreal is once again offering a medical writing course this winter. The course is online and starts the week of January 11th and runs for ten weeks. You have until Monday December 7th to fax or mail in your registration (Maddeningly, registration via the Internet is not yet available.), after which you'll have to drop it off in person downtown. The course only runs if there are enough people registered by the end of next week. I should be teaching it, but Concordia does not confirm with me until later this month. (The joys of being sessional!)

CEJN 132N Medical Writing: Promotional and Continuing Health Education
In this on-line course, students will learn how to access, evaluate and use information on medical topics in order to start writing for the pharmaceutical industry. Topics covered include pharmaceutical advertising and copywriting, medical education, patient education, writing for the web, multimedia and newsletters. (Note: Medical Writing I CEJN 130 is NOT a prerequisite for this course. (Cost: $255 CDN)

Registration form and instructions are here.
Complete course calendar is here.

Any questions? Leave me a comment or drop me an email.

::EDIT:: Since this is an online course, there are isn't a fixed class time. I usually do a a few online chats for Q&A through the system used for the online course. These will probably alternate between Tuesday or Thursday evenings. The transcript of the Q&A is available online if you miss the Q&A. I also keep weekly online 'office hours' via skype.

Mediaville: A Freelance Extravaganza

It seems my recent blog posts are all about promoting local seminars and events. I'll have to remedy that soon. In the meantime, here is an announcement about an event co-sponsored by many different writers' and editors' professional associations in Montreal. The format combines PWAC's traditional 'boot camp' with a freelance-employer 'mixer' that has become an annual tradition in Montreal. It looks like a great event.

Mediaville Montreal
Saturday, October 24, 2009
11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Best Western Hotel Europa
1240 Drummond Street, Montreal

From the Mediaville website:
Mediaville Montreal is a professional development and networking event organized by and for freelance media professionals. If you are an independent writer, editor, publisher or translator, you won’t want to miss it! Over 100 freelancers are expected to attend.

There will be expert panel discussions on how to build a successful freelance media career and how to develop your freelance business, a workshop on how to sell your services to the federal government, a client-freelancer mixer, and an inter-association networking event (a list of potential clients attending the event will be provided as they’re confirmed).

Early-bird discount on tickets until October 9!

Paper to Pixel: Editing for the Web

If you're in Montreal and work in multimedia, especially websites, you won't want to miss this. The Editor's Association of Canada (EAC) is offering a full-day seminar on editing for the web.

The workshop will be held next Thursday at Hotel Ruby Foo's and costs $220 ($160 for EAC members). It's a hands-on workshop. The organizers are asking participants to submit case studies and come prepared to work on real-life problems.

I've attended several EAC seminars in the past. They've all been excellent.

Hooking-Up Freelancers and Employers in Montreal

Last year, the Montreal members of the Canadian AMWA chapter organized a mixer to help freelancers connect with potential employers in the area, and vice versa. The event was really succesful. The event is repeating again next week. It's also open to non-AMWA members. Bring plenty of business cards!

American Medical Writers Association – Canada (Montreal area) Chapter presents:
2nd ANNUAL FREELANCER – EMPLOYER MIXER
Mesa 14, 1425 Bishop, Downtown Montreal, 284-0344
Wednesday, August 5th 2009, 6:30 pm

The pleasure of your company is requested at the 2nd annual American Medical Writers Association freelancer-employer mixer. This dinner event will encourage medical writers (and related professionals) to interact with the companies that hire them.

Freelancers, now is your chance to “show your stuff” to prospective employers who may be looking for talent like yours! We had a great event last year with a large turnout, so anyone who missed it is welcome to attend (AMWA members and non-members alike).

Please feel free to forward this invite to anyone who may be interested, writers and employers alike! For anyone who may know an employer (pharma company, medical communications firms, and CROs, etc.) and is shy to invite them, please advise me and I will send them an official invite. We’ll only have a successful event if we have a mix of both! Please ask them to RSVP by email with me so I can keep a tally of how many people to expect (medicalwriter@videotron.ca).

There is no fee, only what you order for food/or beverages. Don’t forget to bring lots of resumes, business cards, etc. Also feel free to bring your portfolio (if you have one) and put it on display. You will have the option to provide a very brief description (roughly 2 mins) of your services in an informal manner and to mingle with prospective employers. Employers will also be invited to give a brief description of their needs as well, be it medical writing/editing or graphic design etc.

Please RSVP by July 31st (although don't think you can't come to the event if you don't RSVP in time!), but please give me as much notice as possible, so I can let the restaurant know how many chairs to set up. Mesa 14 is a wonderful Mexican restaurant on Bishop near the corner of St. Catherine's.

Crystal Kaczkowski, MSc.
Freelance medical writer
medicalwriter@videotron.ca
(514) 585-3077

PAAB Answers Questions About Social Media

I was very pleased to see that the PAAB is offering a panel discussion and learning event around the use of social media in pharmaceutical advertising in Canada. Pharmaceutical companies are already using it, so the session is sorely needed.

The panel will consist of representatives from PAAB, Health Canada and marketers. According to the announcement on the LinkedIn group for the PAAB, by the end of the event, attendees will be able to:

• Define what “Online Social Media” is and explore its most common applications;
• Identify the most popular social media websites and their key demographics;
• Determine the various applications and benefits of using online social media in Canadian pharmaceutical marketing;
• Undertake approved and acceptable practices for using online social media for marketing and advertising efforts;
• Examine and identify specific examples of acceptable social media marketing practices within the Canadian regulatory environment

This looks like a great event. Dates are set for September 29th in Montreal and September 30th in Toronto. 'Hope to see you there!

Online Medical Writing Course at Concordia

For those of you who missed it this past winter session, Concordia University will be once again offering an online Medical Writing class (CE2769N/C1) next semester. The class starts April 5th and runs until June 5th. Registration is open and will continue until March 10th (next Thursday) for fax and mail enrollment, and for in-person enrollment until March 13th.

Most of this course is a basic introduction to writing for the pharmaceutical industry in Canada, including marketing (copy), CHE, and PR writing. It also takes into account the PAAB/Rx&D environment that exists in Canada but not in the USA. Actually, just about everything in this course is done within a Canadian context and it is the only course of its kind (that I'm aware of) in Canada. At the end of the course, students who have done all assignments will have at least two pieces of writing to add to their portfolios.

If you're interested in this course, time is short to register. Space is limited in the course and last semester the registration quota filled up. I believe that this course will not be offered again until 2009.

Here is a brief overview of each of the modules:

Scope and Resources: In this module we will (very) briefly review the different kinds of medical writing as well as some 'tools of the trade.' We will also explore how to find studies and information.

Pharmaceutical Industry and Marketing In Canada: In this module we will be briefly introduce you to the pharmaceutical industry in Canada. We will review the laws and industry codes that govern Canadian pharma, and will look at the relationship between health care professionals and industry.

Continuing Health Education: In this module we will be briefly introduce you to Continuing Health Education in Canada. We will review different Canadian accrediting bodies for CHE and their requirements. We will also discuss non-accredited CHE programs and take a look at the different types of CHE programs that medical writers may be called upon to create, and the role of the writer within CHE.

Advertising and Copy Writing: In this module we will take a look at pharmaceutical advertising and copy writing. We will briefly review the different types of marketing materials that medical copy writers may be called upon to write, as well as the basics of copy writing itself and the PAAB code. We will also explore how to 'translate' journal articles and clinical trial results into marketing 'copy'.

Representative Training Tools and Interactive Materials: In this section we will look at some special considerations when developing tools for sales representative training, including instructional design, learning objectives and writing evaluation questions. We will also learn how to write for web or computer-based learning environments.

Public Relations: In this very brief section we briefly look at the role of PR and media communications within the pharmaceutical industry. We will learn how to write press releases and touch on patient education material.

If you have any questions, send me a note. Also, please feel free to forward this information on to friends and colleagues who might be interested in the course.

Medical Writing Programs

One of the questions that I'm frequently asked by students or via my website is, "are there any medical writing programs in Canada?" The answer, sadly, is no. Whereas a couple of Universities in the USA currently have Medical Writing programs, none exist in Canada.

The University of Toronto offers two MSc programs in Biomedical Communications, however neither focus on medical writing; they focus on medical artwork. The first program is in Biomedical Media Design. It prepares students to design and create interactive media tools. The second program, Biomedical Visual Design, is for students interested in medical illustration or producing animations of biological and physiological structures and processes. Tuition for current offerings is about $7,500.

Some post-secondary educational institutions in Canada offer stand-alone ‘science writing’ courses to students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate or post-doc science programs. For example, in Montreal, McGill University offers two courses on science writing designed to help budding scientists write better manuscripts for submission to journals. These courses appear to be open to graduate students and post-docs only, and are often not specific to medical writing.

Concordia University Continuing Education is currently the only post-secondary educational institution in Canada to offer courses in medical writing to part-time students; and no Canadian institutions are offering any kind of medical writing diploma or certificate program on a part-time basis.

Distance education through online course offerings is a welcome learning option for many professionals seeking to advance their skills or make a career change. Currently, in Canada, only Concordia University Continuing Education offers an online course in medical writing.

Professional development courses in medical and science writing are occasionally offered by groups like the American Medical Writers’ Association (AMWA) Canada, the Professional Writers’ Association of Canada (PWAC), and the Quebec Writers Federation (QWF), but these are usually few and far between and none are available online. AMWA, through it’s USA headquarters, offers a certificate program in medical writing that consists of about eight, three-hour workshops. Many Canadian AMWA members complete this program by attending chapter or national conferences. Costs for professional development offerings range from $150 for each three-hour seminar offered by AMWA as part of their certificate program, to about $200 for a 10-week series of two-hour classes offered by the QWF. Stand-alone workshops offered through PWAC or similar groups may be $10-$50 and free for members.

Concordia Offers Online Medical Writing Course

Concordia University's Medical Writing II, exploring writing for the Canadian Pharmaceutical Industry, is now available online! Enrollment is now underway. You can enrol by fax or mail until December 10th and in person until December 14th. The course mostly focuses writing for the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, in particular the marketing and mass media side of the business like CHE, copywriting, patient and educational materials, public relations, etc. For more information, please visit the Concordia Universities Continung Education pages.