[Text on screen: Hannah Stanley, PhD Senior Medical Writer, Conisus LLC Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program Alumni 2017] Hannah Stanley, PhD: Hi, I'm Hannah Stanley. I'm a senior medical writer for a company called Conisus, and I'm also an OSU BSGP Alumni. [Image of Stanley, PhD shown along with the following text: Introduction Senior Medical Writer, Conisus LLC - Remote with 20% travel - Medical affairs and commerical development meetings for clients in the pharmaceutical industry - Meeting material preparation, note taking, meeting summaries and strategic recommendations Career advancement: - October 2018 - Associate Medical Writer - January 2020 - Medical Writer - July 2020 - Senior Medical Writer] So a little bit about myself. I currently work as a senior medical writer, which is a really exciting, fast-paced job. I definitely love it. Under normal circumstances, it's remote with 20% to 30% travel. Right now, we're fully remote because of the pandemic, but it's super great. I love traveling for work. It's always fun. Basically what I do is we're an agency that works for pharmaceutical companies as they are developing products, and as these products are in phase one, phase two, phase three, clinical trials, they seek feedback from physicians in the field as to how they feel about initial clinical data or, you know, what other analyses they want to see. So basically, we help the pharma companies have meetings with these physicians in the field. We help prepare the meeting materials, help them identify what questions to ask. And then after the meetings, we write summaries and key takeaways and also provide them some strategic recommendations for how they can adjust their strategy going down the line as these products continue in development. So, super exciting. I really love it. And I will also say that within the field of medical writing, there's a lot of opportunity for growth. You can see here, I started as an associate medical writer in 2018, and over the past two years, I've grown into a senior medical writer, and I'm taking on more responsibility and I'm managing people now. So I think there's opportunity for really fast and really interesting career growth. So I think it's a great field to be in. [Text on screen: Transitioning to Medical Writing - Freelance work as a science writer - Foster connections with contacts in the industry - Develop writing and editorial skills] On transitioning to medical writing from graduate work, I would say that some things that I did helped me out and maybe would help someone else out who's looking to get into medical writing. For one thing, I did start doing some freelance work in my spare time as a science writer. So any kind of freelance or extra work or volunteer work you can get doing some kind of scientific writing or medical writing is great. Experience is always a plus. Also, just fostering connections with contacts in the industry, maybe you know someone or you know someone who knows someone who does medical writing or who is in the medical communication space. Just being able to sit down with that person and pick their brain and get their thoughts can be super helpful when you're first looking into medical writing. And I think just continuing to develop writing and editorial skills, even if that's just for school, for your classes, or when you're writing publications, or when you're writing abstracts for meetings, any kind of writing experience is helpful when you're thinking about a career in medical writing. [Slide is titled "Medical Communications (Med Comms) and includes a diagram with "Med Comms" at the center and arrows pointing out from it additional text boxes. The additional text includes: "Agency work, Meetings," "Regulatory," "Publications," "Medical Education," "Marketing," "Public Relations," and "Editorial."] And here I just wanted to kind of stop and take a step back and say, while I do work in medical writing specifically, medical communications in general is a huge field with a lot of subfields within it. So medical writing is one part of medical communications, but there's all these other areas that are potential places that a PhD graduate could work in and that are really wonderful careers with kind of different leans and different aspects for each of them. So worth considering any of these different fields, and it's worth exploring medical communications as a whole because there's so many opportunities out there. So it's really a great, really exciting field with a lot of potential and a lot of opportunity. [An image of The Ohio State University's campus is shown along with the following text: Why I chose OSU BSGP - Breadth of study - Collaborative, supportive environment - Resources ] But when I was a graduate student, before I was a graduate student, choosing a graduate program, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know I wanted to go into medical writing. But why I chose OSU and the biomedical sciences graduate program specifically is, number one, because of the breadth of study that they offer. I knew that I wanted the chance to rotate in a lot of different labs and take classes in a lot of different fields within biomedical science. And I think OSU gives you that opportunity. You know, you can take courses and rotate in labs that are in cancer biology or microbiology or pathophysiology. You know, you can really broaden your scientific knowledge, and I think that's really important to be a well-rounded scientist. And also, it turns out to be very important for the work that I do now, having that breadth of understanding of science. I also chose OSU because of the collaborative, supportive environment. I really got that feeling from OSU more than any other university that I visited. Everyone's just very nice, very collaborative. People are so willing to help you out and work with you. There's never any feeling of competition or, you know, harsh feelings. It's very supportive, and I just got the sense that the people there really care about you as a person, in addition to caring about you as a scientist and you in your career development. So that was, for me, very important. And also, the resources at OSU can't be beat. There's so much there in terms of actual research resources and also in terms of people as resources. You know, if you want to do something or you want to learn more about something, there is someone on campus who can help you and who is willing to help you. So, you know, all those factors combined, OSU BSGP was a really good choice for me, and I really loved my time at OSU, and I think it prepared me very well for the work that I'm doing now. [Text on screen: Recommendations - Decide on and communicate your goals early and often - Recognize your ability to steer the ship - Pay attention to which parts of the graduate school experience interest you - Take any opportunity to connect to colleagues, mentors, etc. - Ask for advice] So in closing, my recommendations for someone who is early in grad school or who's applying to grad school, I would say throughout your grad school career, for me, I think the important things are to decide on and communicate your goals early and often. You know, come into grad school and know kind of what you want to do and know your timeline, you know, how long do you want to take to graduate, what kind of classes you want to focus on. Knowing that and being able to communicate that to your professors and to your advisors is super important. Graduate school is so cool in that it's very adaptable and you can really tailor it to what you want, so take the opportunity to do that. And make sure you're clear on what you want, because people will generally support you if you're clear on where you're headed and what you want. So I think my second point is just that, recognize your ability to steer the ship. You're really in control of your degree and how you spend your time. So just, you know, be excited about that, that kind of freedom to tailor everything to what you want. Pay attention to the parts of the graduate school experience that interests you. I would say that really helped me when I started thinking about, you know, what parts of my graduate education were really most exciting for me. It was always the writing and the editing and creating PowerPoint presentations and creating posters. You know, that kind of writing, editing aspect of it, was what I loved, and the actual lab research I could give or take. So that helped me to understand that I wanted to go more in a direction of writing and medical communication. So just paying attention to what aspects of your education are really exciting for you can help you decide where to go after graduate school. And take any opportunity to connect to colleagues, mentors. I think OSU is a great environment that's super supportive, and because of that, I think it's great to take the opportunity to really branch out and have those touch points with your classmates, your mentors, advisors, professors, to just be able to get the experience of everyone and be able to have a good graduate experience. And ask for advice when you need it. You know, everyone around you is looking to help you and support you. So, you know, I think, always—never be afraid to ask for advice, to ask people's opinions, and I think you'll have a great graduate experience. And, yeah, thank you.