• What is your job title?
  
• Please give a brief description of your job, specifying what you do each day.
  
• What have you been working on or teaching lately?
  
• What most interests you in your job?
  
• What do you like least about your job?
  
• What has been your career path?
  
• Was there any person who inspired you to do what you are doing today?
  
• What attracted you to this career when you were in high school?
  
• What careers in your field do you see as promising?
  
• What advice do you have for young women who want to work in your field?
  

Q:  What is your job title?
A: President of MedWrite, Inc., Senior Documentation Strategist and Medical Writer
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Q:  Please give a brief description of your job, specifying what you do each day.
A:  I write large reports that describe drugs (I mean the kind you buy at CVS or are prescribed by your doctor, not illegal drugs).  The drug companies hire me to do this so they can send the information to the Food and Drug Administration (a group that is run by the United States government).  The companies cannot sell the drugs to CVS or to anyone else unless they can prove the drug is safe (will not hurt anyone) and efficacious (will help sick people get better).  If I do my job well, the Food and Drug Administration allows the company to sell the product to drug stores (like CVS) and your doctor can prescribe these products if you are sick and need them.

I write on a computer, meet with drug company people in their offices several times a month, and talk to many people each day about the drug they are trying to describe.  I need great "people" and computer skills.
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Q:  What have you been working on or teaching lately?
A:  I have been working on a rabies vaccine, a new type of test that will help people with cancer by predicting whether the drugs they are on are working, an implanted cell that will help build people's heart muscles after they are damaged, and a hormone that will help short kids grow taller.
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Q:  What most interest you in your job?
A:  I think I have the most exciting job in the world.  I am working in an industry that is making new therapies that will help people to live longer and feel better.  When I succeed, I can help save people, sometimes even children, from terrible diseases and suffering.  I work in big teams with a lot of people and I enjoy interacting with everyone and trying to figure out ways to reach a goal together.  We are all under a lot of pressure to do everything quickly and accurately, and although that is stressful at times, it is a really great feeling when we all work together and succeed in our mission.  My job allows me a great deal of creativity.
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Q:  What do you like the least about your job?
A:  There are a lot of things that can make my life difficult that I have no control over.  The worst one is the pressure to do parts a project too fast, because investors in the company want to make money when the product goes on sale.  If I have to work too fast I do not always do a good job.
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Q:  What has your career path been?
A:  I was a Registered Nurse, working in hospitals and clinics, when I became interested in drug research.  I went to graduate school and got a Master's Degree in epidemiology (the study of disease trends) and biostatistics.  I worked for a drug company conducting research in people. Then they needed someone to write about the research.  When the company moved and I was laid off, I got a job as a full-time Medical Writer.  I started my own company 12 years ago and have been doing medical writing since then.  Right now I manage teams of writers and help companies to figure out how to get a lot of work done very quickly by these teams.
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Q:  Was there any person who inspired you to do what you're doing today?
A:  A man by the name of Peter Farb.  He was the author of a best-selling book in the 1970s, and he was a patient of mine at a clinic.  He would come in to my clinic every week and say "What are you still doing here?  You could do a lot more than this!"  He knew that I was bored but that I didn't have the confidence to find something I was more interested in.

This was the first inkling I'd ever had that the biggest road block to success is the one you build for yourself.  If you really want to do something, there's a pretty good chance that if you go out and just keep trying, you'll be able to do it.
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Q:  What attracted you to this career when you were in high school?
A:  This career didn't exist when I was in High School.  I detested writing and math back then because they never seemed relevant to anything.  I was wrong!  The job I do now is a combination of both, and it's the best of both!
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Q:  What careers in your field do you see as promising for the future?
A:  Careers for medical writers are just beginning.  I expect that eventually writers will need more computer skills, in addition to communication skills.
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Q: What advice do you have for young women who want to work in your field someday?
A:  The best writers are those who write about something they know.  If you love biology, medicine, or math, work in those fields for a few years first. When you become familiar with your field, and if you become passionate about your work, it will become easy to write about it.  Good writing comes when you know about something and care about it.  It can't be faked.

I hope this helps ladies.  All of us working women are out there trying to pave the way for you, and believe me, a lot has been done!  You have endless opportunities!
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