Elevating our Medical Writers
6 February 2024
At Wave, we prioritise our team’s learning and career development and firmly commit to providing each role with opportunities to enhance and refine their professional skills. That’s why we initiated the ‘Wave Medical Writing Academy’ led by Medical Journalist and Communications Specialist, Sue Mayor.
Our medical writers recently attended the Academy, engaging in both group workshops and personalised one-to-one sessions with Sue. The Academy spanned a 12-month period and equipped our writers with essential skills, knowledge and insights to elevate their writing skills, confidently approach writer briefs and deliver high-quality, clinically relevant content.
The group workshops focused on sharing knowledge and learnings from Sue’s extensive experience, covering a broad range of topics from how to tell a compelling story to planning, running and writing up advisory board meetings. The sessions consisted of tailored exercises designed to stimulate critical thinking, allow writers to put learnings into practice, and see how each session can support the development of engaging content.
“The group training sessions provided a great opportunity to explore some of the key topics and types of work in medical writing with someone who has such a breadth of experience.” Becca, Senior Medical Writer
“The workshops introduced me to some key concepts and practical tools that I apply in my job every day, improving both the quality of my work and my confidence as a medical writer.” Henry, Senior Medical Writer
In the one-to-one sessions, our writers delved deep into their strengths and weaknesses while reflecting on past, current and future projects. These sessions focused on individual developmental areas and allowed the writers to demonstrate how they had applied the learnings and skills from the group workshops to live project work.
“The Medical Writing Academy workshops have equipped me with a wide range of valuable techniques and tools to elevate my writing. The one-to-one sessions with Sue have also provided a great opportunity for me to reflect on my own work and receive detailed and insightful feedback.” Julia, Associate Medical Writer
“After completing the Wave Medical Writing Academy, I feel more confident to tackle a new project – from challenging a brief and suggesting new ideas to developing engaging and concise content. I found the one-to-one sessions with Sue an invaluable experience to delve into my own work and have proactively used Sue’s feedback to improve on future pieces.” Laura, Medical Writer
“I really valued the opportunity to take time to reflect on my work and hear about strategies to improve the way that I approach the different types of work that we do. In particular, the panning tool was invaluable in helping me keep my audience in mind in everything.” Charlotte, Principal Medical Writer
“The Wave Medical Writing Academy has provided an incredible opportunity to take part in a series of workshops tailored specifically to the needs and interests of our writing team. From techniques for effective and efficient planning, to ensuring impactful delivery, it's safe to say we've all learnt things we can start doing immediately in our work!” Gabriel, Principal Medical Writer
And it wasn’t just writers on this journey; our senior editors are also an integral part of content development at Wave. The group workshops further developed their critical thinking around content and, in the future, ensures our whole content team is working towards unified writing goals.
"To me, writing and editing are two intertwined branches of the same tree; the more I learn about effective writing, the stronger I feel as an editor. I found Sue's writing sessions extremely useful, and now, with the improved knowledge I have around writing, I am able to edit our content to make sure it carries forward these core techniques." Jess, Senior Editor
We want to make sure all the Wave team across all career paths, not just writing, can further develop their skills, which is why further training courses in other disciplines are planned for 2024!
If you think Wave would be a good fit to support you with your next project and you would like to hear more about how the team can help you, please get in touch at: James@wavehealthcare.co.uk
Wave is a global healthcare communications agency. We combine scientific, medical and brand expertise to deliver clinically focussed programmes which are trusted by HCPs and drive better patient outcomes. To find out more about us, click here.