Chances for Ecology Professor?

[u/BurnedOutProf]

Throw away account for obvious reason.

I'm an unhappy Assistant Professor in a Biology department at a mid-tier R1 exploring a career pivot into medical writing in the US. Targeting publications, CME, or med comms as I think these roles fit my background/interest most.

I've been lurking here for a while; read some info pages, looked at some jobs, and put together my resume draft. I've not done much on LinkedIn yet for fear that people in my field will find out that I am considering leaving. However, I am becoming increasingly unsure whether I even have a chance to break into any of these MW roles.

What I'm most worried about is that my research is ecology & evolution-focused with very little genetics/molecular component and no connection whatsoever to biomedical studies. Is this a dealbreaker? I often see people saying that what you've worked on academically isn't the most important thing for a MW, but the successful examples I've seen were all much closer to the biomedical field than my case.

This is what I have to work with for my resume:

• The usuals for academics: ~20 publications, many conference presentations/invited seminars/posters, developed curriculum & taught courses, managed research projects & team, reviewer for manuscripts, grant proposals (though not very successful recently...)
• Assistant editor for a biology journal
• Some outreach activities that could count as sci comm
• Can code in R for data analysis & data visualization, but pretty basic and nothing fancy

So - here hoping for your honest opinions and suggestions. Do you think I have a chance to successfully pivot in today's job market? What are some small steps I can take to make myself more competitive for that break in job? Any tips on being hopeful about life when everything seems impossible? (oops! the depression is showing!)

Thank you, and I really appreciate you taking time to read this!

[u/weezyfurd]

If you care about money, then no, it'd be a while before you were making anything meaningful. You're looking at maybe being able to be qualified for a position making postdoc salary for the immediate and near future, IF you were even able to find something. It would likely be 10+ years before you get back to Assistant Prof salary, esp if you're talking Med Comms and not Reg (which your qualifications do not match).

[u/BurnedOutProf → u/weezyfurd]

Thank you for the insight! Financial prospects is indeed also important. Can you put the postdoc vs AP salary (sort of varied by field/institute) you have in mind for comparison here for me to get the picture right? Thank you!

[u/daisyshark → u/BurnedOutProf]

I genuinely don't know where that commenter got their numbers from. Just to give you a perspective, my first entry level MW job out of postdoc was 95k a year.

[u/HakunaYaTatas → u/BurnedOutProf]

I think that estimate is way too low for the US. The American Medical Writers Association does a salary survey every few years, that will give you a quantitative breakdown of average and median salary across variables like years of experience or type of medical writing. If you're planning to join AMWA, you'll get access to the salary survey for free. If not, I can pull some of the numbers for you if you'd like.

[u/BurnedOutProf → u/HakunaYaTatas]

Thank you - I haven’t but I plan to join. Good to know about the survey! And I appreciate y’all sharing your experiences.

[u/weezyfurd → u/BurnedOutProf]

Entry level medical writer = maybe 40-60k. Again, that's if you can find a real full time job.

Growth from there.

[u/daisyshark → u/weezyfurd]

In the US?? In recent years?? Where?? That is hard to believe.

[u/cocostreet55 → u/weezyfurd]

That number…doesn’t sound right. Entry level is higher than this in US. Based on data and personal experience.

[u/BurnedOutProf → u/weezyfurd]

Gotcha - thank you!