PhDs Can Write?

As much as PhDs like to think they are excellent writers, a PhD is not enough to get your first medical writing position. The old adage

As much as I would like to be able to say I always knew I’d grow up to be a medical writer, that just isn’t the case. Of course, any self-respecting primary investigator winces at any mention of alternative science careers, so I turned to Google. The first article that I found in the search results was this one: Interesting Six-figure Jobs – CNN Money – January 1, 2005. One of the requirements for my new career path was that my PhD would be an asset. In the CNN/Money article, it estimated that 80% of medical writers had at least a Master’s and 30% of those had a PhD. It didn’t hurt that you could make a decent living as well. Intrigued, I refined my search and found this article: Working as a Medical Writer – Science Careers – June 22, 2007. Since the journal Science dedicated a whole article to medical writing, then I thought it must be a real career. Researchers only believe something if it is published in a high impact journal. Finally, I found a career where I could use my writing skills, my PhD would be an asset, and the pay was good.

Feel free to add how you discovered medical writing in the comments below.

Thus far I followed the traditional academic path: bachelor