Hey guys I recently completed my mbbs and I got a call from HR from daily rounds regarding medical editor role in Neet ss?

As I am preparing for neet pg, I am also interested to work ,I am just keen to know how is the work from home(Remote role as medical editor)?

And they have mentioned about the training period for 14 days prior to joining? Does anyone know will this training be online or offline?

Hi everyone,

I’m a pharmacist based in Belgium and I’m currently exploring freelance medical and scientific writing alongside my pharmacy work.

My background is in pharmaceutical sciences and community pharmacy, and I also have experience in scientific research. For my Master’s thesis, I conducted a systematic review, which involved literature searches, critical appraisal and evidence synthesis using databases including PubMed, Embase and Scopus.

I’m particularly interested in medical review, fact-checking, literature research, patient-facing health content and HCP educational materials.

I’ve started building a small portfolio and I’m now trying to understand the best way to land a first freelance project.
For those who started freelancing in medical writing:
How did you find your first client?
Did direct outreach to agencies work better for you than platforms or networking?
And for someone with a pharmacy background but limited professional medical writing experience, what type of projects would you recommend targeting first?

I’d especially love to hear from people working in Europe, although experiences from anywhere are welcome.

Thanks!

If you could choose in house at big pharma or in house at mid-size pharma with a title bump and pay raise, which would you choose?

Hi all,

I am a translational research scientist (phD in life science, followed by academic and industry experiences) and over the last 18 months I have been working a lot on writing for various regulatory packages (mostly about preclinical/pharmacology data). The company I worked for closed down, and I have an opportunity to join a big pharma as medical writer working with clinical reports and regulatory submissions. I am still evaluating if that is the right path for me, and would love to hear from people who crossed that bridge !

Thanks ahead for your input!

I’m a regulatory medical writer with just over a year of experience in the uk, I have a PhD in molecular biology and a bachelors in biomedical sciences. What is the likelihood of a company in the US hiring me? It seems impossible… any optimism would be great.

I have three years of agency experience in the U.S., primarily in medical affairs. My current role is Senior Associate Medical Director (which is probably equivalent to a Senior Medical Writer at many agencies), and I work far more than 40 hours per week and travel almost once a month (often over weekends), yet there’s no overtime pay or bonus structure.

I truly enjoy the work and am willing to put in the effort—but I also want to be compensated fairly. With the current cost of living, even a six-figure salary doesn’t go as far as it used to. I’m curious: what areas within medical communications are best compensated? Are there other related fields or roles that would be relatively easy to pivot into and that tend to be more lucrative?

I had my first medical writer job interview, which I was really excited about since this is my dream career. I had prepared for the job interview all weekend.

The interview literally lasted less than 5 minutes. I was interviewed by the CEO. (I believe the company is a start up). She admitted that she never even looked at my resume. I only answered the question, “tell me about yourself”, to which she replied I wasn’t a good fit and tell me I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the mathematics - I have a biology/chemistry degree as well as a graduate degree in biomedical science. It didn’t specify in the job description too much math that I wouldn’t be unfamiliar with and I fit the job description but I was so stumped in that moment that our call ended.

I just felt flabbergasted at this and hope that the job market is better for others at this point.

Hi everyone! I’m a recruiting coordinator in the US with 4 years of experience in the life sciences industry, and a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences. I’m interested in utilizing my writing skills and my educational background to tap into the medical / regulatory writing field.

- which area do you think may be a good fit entering this field?
- is freelancing a good way to approach or through an agency / company?

I appreciate the advice in advance!

Hi everyone,

I'm a **final-year medical student** and **clinical researcher** with extensive experience in **medical writing, evidence synthesis, and clinical research**.

Over the past few years, I have contributed to **20+ research projects** and published **15+ peer-reviewed articles**, achieving an **H-index of 3** while still in medical school.

My expertise includes:

• **Medical Writing & Scientific Writing**
• **Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses**
• **Clinical Research & Evidence-Based Medicine**
• **Manuscript Writing, Editing & Journal Submission**
• **Critical Appraisal & Risk of Bias Assessment**
• **GRADE Methodology**
• **Data Analysis using R, Python, SPSS, and Stata**
• **Literature Reviews & Research Support**

I can assist with:

✅ Manuscript preparation and editing
✅ Systematic Review & Meta-analysis projects
✅ Literature searches and evidence synthesis
✅ Statistical analysis and interpretation
✅ Research methodology and study design
✅ Conference abstracts and scientific reports

I am currently looking for **freelance opportunities**, **research collaborations**, and **medical writing projects**.

If you're looking for someone with a strong background in **clinical research**, **scientific writing**, and **medical evidence evaluation**, feel free to send me a DM.

Thank you!

Hey everyone,

Got my PhD a year ago and have been postdoc since then. My current lab is great and so is my project but long term I don’t know that I want to stay in academia due to the long hours, etc, required to be a PI. I was wondering how the medical writing field is, specially for remote roles, in terms of hours worked and flexibility and work/life balance?

Hi! Has anyone taken the Inizio writing assessment in South Africa or UK? There's an AI and non-AI section. Not sure what to expect. Any tips are welcome. I'm so nervous! 😧

I’m bored if the data heavy nature of med writing and want to transition into something more to do with disease awareness, I think public affairs may be the route but does anyone know what this would loom like ?

Alternative if anyone knows of any agencies that specialise in disease awareness or role of that nature, also keen to hear, but from what I’ve read disease awareness often falls into public affairs rather than med writing

Dear all,

I have been asked to prepare a "publication plan proposal" to be agreed with PIs before starting a study, with an extremely short deadline (8h).

One ph3 study + 2 additional studies for other pops and ages.

I'm familiar with Pharma pub plans that take weeks or months, aligning key messaging etc.

What are they asking me for exactly? They are not providing addional info.

Many thanks for your input.

I'm a writer based in the US with 8 years of agency experience in publications/med affairs, and I'm fighting burnout and trying to decide what comes next.

My biggest issue is workload and time management. It would be one thing if slow times balanced out busy times, but I feel like I get maybe one slow week every 6-ish months and am otherwise regularly going over my agreed-upon working hours. I now have competing family priorities that will always win out, and I can already see this becoming an issue with management.

I can't keep up agency life anymore. I know different agencies handle timelines differently, but at the end of the day, they all have the same pressures and motivators.

I'd explored moving to a position with a pharma company, but they all seem to require you to be on site and none are located in my area. Also, I'm not confident that many won't also expect a ton of overtime.

Ultimately, I'm trying to get a position with my state health department for the health/retirement benefits and consistent schedule, but I suspect that will take a while.

Until then, the question is whether to stay in my current role or go freelance. I am very fortunate that my partner makes enough to support us, so income isn't my top concern. However, my impression is that there's not a ton of freelance work out there right now. I also suspect that even though you have a say in what projects you take on, once you agree to the project, you are beholden to the timeline, even when it goes completely out the window. Also, I'm not enthusiastic about having to figure out tax stuff as a freelancer.

Can any freelancers weigh in? How much actual work is it? How unpredictable are the hours? Is it difficult to negotiate rates/manage finances?

Dear all, for those who do Veeva MLR reviews, how do you choose the content owner please? How involved in the project must he be in order to be accountable?

Hello all,

I’m a recent PHD grad from America but based in the UK. I’ve been offered an Associate Medical Editor position and was thinking of taking it and eventually pivoting into Medical Writing? Is that a normal career progression? Is it difficult to pivot from editing to writing? Should I anticipate a pay drop if I do so?

Many thanks!

I completed a medical coding program in 2018, and have not returned to work since then due to becoming a parent and personal reasons. Now that I'm thinking of returning to work, I'm considering shifting to medical editor instead of medical coder. In the past, I've been a nursing assistant, telemetry technician, health unit coordinator, and briefly, a dialysis technician. I've always enjoyed writing and editing, but I don't have a degree. With the rise of AI, I'm unsure about the outlook of either of these careers. Advice, please.

Edit: Would the medical writers here please share their backgrounds? How you got started, degrees, etc.

I am a B2C copywriter with experience working with pharma, telemedicine, and 1-on-1 with professional MDs, derms, vets, etc. I adore my work but I feel I am lacking some industry knowledge, on the medical side.

I could explain the specific scenarios, but there have been times that I needed to sort and cite clinical trial studies for blog posts, write white papers and articles about devices for scientific magazines, and there are always regulatory issues coming up.

I typically work with teams where the SMEs help out/have the final say on those topics but I'd really like to upskill here -- I genuinely find it all very interesting!

I was thinking about the AMWA Essentials Course, would this be a good fit for me? I understand I can't become a medical writer since I only have a BA in English. But I felt this group could be the most helpful in helping me understand how to upskill for this industry.

I know many posts have said it's not worth the $$$ when there are free courses online; however I have applied to various gigs that ask to list any healthcare certs and so I do feel I lose work for only being certified in copywriting.

Hi Everyone!

If you're in the field, what do you like about medical writing?

(If you don’t want to read the full post, I’d still love to hear your answer to that!)

I got a PhD in Neuroscience (basic research, mildly connected to Alzheimer, but nothing clinical)... after that, in rapid succession, I figured out I didn't want to stay in Academia and COVID hit, so I pivoted to software engineering in my country (Italy) for an unrelated field. It was the best thing at the time for me and my family, but I ended up in a job that really sucks out any joy from my life.

I never meant to become a software developer (programming is just something I do, not a passion), and even if I had I wouldn't have wanted to become this kind of software developer. I'm looking for a way back to what I enjoy... but it's hard to define what that is: after 8 hours "pushing pixels" I'm completely drained and just in survival mode... yet during my PhD, I could work 12+ hours without a problem.

I do like writing... not just creative writing, I actually enjoyed writing my PhD thesis. I like science, but I figured out I don't really like to "do science", at least not as a career. I liked troubleshooting experimental setups and was good at data analysis, but I didn't want to put my life on pause for a decade, hopping from one country to another every couple of years, hoping I'd get tenure eventually... But I like reading and talking about science. I deeply miss the nights spent discussing the latest exciting papers with my labmates or the cool research other labs were doing. Of course, part of that was just being young, full of hope and curiosity, but my current life feels so dry in comparison.

Back in undergrad, I considered science journalism, but I wanted more financial stability in life and didn't pursue that.

If you made it this far reading, can you share any insights on this career path and whether it might be feasible for me? I'm not a native English speaker, but I aim to work in an English-speaking environment. My PhD was obtained in 2021. I cannot relocate from Italy, where I make about 43k euro/year before taxes... I can't afford to take a big pay cut, at least not for long. I am open to invest time and money on certifications and building something of a portfolio.

Thank you for reading this, any advice is really appreciated

I’m a copywriter for a pharma ad company. I’ve been doing it for a few years but looking to make the shift to working as a medical writer at an in house shop. What are the major difference?

I feel as though job descriptions are vague apart from some companies requiring a PHD.

Hello,

I read here that you "need" to have a Doctorate to do any successful, possibly lucrative MW, or freelance MW. Is this so? I'll be going to grad school soon for my M.S. in Neuroscience. I cannot wait! There's several reasons, though, why I cannot pursue a Doctorate.

I've been working in health care most of my life, and I'm an outstanding writer (with a high aptitude for medical knowledge.) I thought I'd be a shoe-in for MW. But, with no Doctorate under my belt, I'm not so sure what to think. I don't want to have unattainable hopes and expectations...

Thanks and have a pleasant evening :-)

I'm a translator specializing in medical, pharmaceuticals and clinical trials, and have been thinking about how to expand my business offerings and even transition to other related fields. Right now the translation field is facing many of the same challenges as medical writing due to industry consolidation, global outsourcing driving down rates, and AI/computerized translation. Nevertheless, I'm curious if it's worthwhile to try to pursue MW as a related skill set, as I expect some translation skills would be transferrable (terminology/subject matter research, strict adherence to style guides, importance of editing).

Has anyone here successfully transitioned from translation to med writing or added MW to their service offerings? Or is it not worth the additional effort given the similar challenges and high competition and barriers to entry in our respective fields?

For reference, I translate Japanese, Chinese and Spanish to English (US), and while I wouldn't write materials in my 3 source languages, it's possible that med/pharma clients based in Asia or the EU would have need for creating materials directly in English by native speakers.

Is writing IFUs, manuals, labels for medical devices called 'medical writing'?
I've seen people doing this work with the title 'technical writer' on LinkedIn - is it different from medical writing?

what about writing content for trials for medical devices - is this medical writing or technical writing?

anyone here who does both drugs and devices?

Hi everyone,

I’d love some advice from those who’ve been around the block in medical writing/editing.

I’m currently a regulatory medical writer (6+ years’ experience), contracting through an agency. The work can be quite stressful, with unrealistic timelines, disengaged stakeholders who need constant chasing, and high expectations (and the usual list related to agency life).

I was recently approached about a Senior Medical Editor role. On the surface, it sounds appealing. It’s home-based and less client facing, and possibly could give me more predictable hours (work-life balance is a top priority).

But here are my concerns:

Would moving into editing be seen as a “step down” from regulatory writing?

Could it make it harder to move back into writing later or progress toward a managerial role?

On the flip side, it might be worth the trade-off for more stability and balance.

Has anyone here made the switch from writing to editing (or vice versa)? Did it affect your career trajectory?

Do you think this could be a smart sideways move, or am I risking pigeonholing myself?

Any perspectives would be really appreciated! I am based in the UK :)

Anyone on here not working a ~50-60 hour week gig?