Interview with Leanne Low, Ph.D., Senior Medical Writer at Oxford Pharmagenesis
Interviewed by Megan Hockman, Postdoctoral Fellow, Systems Genomics Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases (LPD)
The “Career Pathways—Explore the Possibilities” series highlights different professions pursued by scientists like you. This interview focuses on a medical writer, someone who translates complex scientific, medical, and healthcare topics and information into a variety of formats for different audiences. Leanne Low, Ph.D., was a postdoc at NIAID for four years, where she worked in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research under the supervision of Louis Miller, M.D. Read this interview with Dr. Low to learn more about her journey to becoming a medical writer in industry.
Can you describe your current role?
I am a senior medical writer at Oxford Pharmagenesis, a health science consultancy. My company works with various pharma companies to help them communicate their data, from strategizing and planning to publishing. We help with the development of a range of materials, including scientific publications, congressional abstracts, posters, podium presentations, and educational materials. Day-to-day, my job involves a combination of writing, project management, and working directly with clients to figure out the best ways to communicate their data.
What is your favorite part of your job? What is the most challenging aspect?
I really like the variety that medical writing offers. I work with different clients, different kinds of projects, and also learn about new therapeutic areas. While some projects can be more traditional (i.e., scientific articles), there is also the opportunity to be more creative and I enjoy that I get to create things like visual abstracts, presentations, and plain language summaries.
My job involves working with a lot of different personalities – each client has their own quirks. Learning about those personalities can be fun, but managing the relationships can be difficult. Timelines can also present another challenge. Sometimes a client will have a tight deadline, and it can be tough to put something together while cooperating with different teams and stakeholders to ensure everyone is happy with the final product.
Why did you decide to pursue a career as a medical writer?
I knew I wanted to transition away from bench work when I started my career search. Originally, I was interested in science administration, but a lot of the jobs in that field were out of reach as a non-U.S. citizen. I knew I was good at writing, and I knew I liked playing with data. When I was exploring career options, I went to a virtual Career Discovery Day held by my current company, and their presentations helped me realize that medical writing was a viable option.
Describe the transition from your postdoc to your current role.
I didn’t feel like the learning curve was too steep. The initial start of learning a new therapeutic area and the different processes takes some time, but overall wasn’t overwhelming as I could draw from previous experiences I had during my postdoctoral fellowship.
What was your postdoctoral research at NIAID, and how did your postdoc prepare you for your current position?
I was a visiting postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Lou Miller’s lab, studying basic malaria biology. When I started my postdoc, I knew molecular biology wasn’t a strong point, so I worked on projects that helped strengthen that skillset. I was able to author three papers, each focused on defining the function of a different malaria protein. While I was a postdoc, I got to work with people looking at a lot of different facets of malaria and collaborate with other scientists within NIAID and abroad. That really helped me develop soft skills in things like collaboration and project management that help a lot in my job now.
Outside of research, what activities did you participate in as a postdoc that helped prepare you to be a medical writer?
When I started my postdoc, I was honest with Dr. Miller about not being interested in a lab-based career, and he was open to me pursuing avenues that would aid my career search. This resulted in me joining several committees to gain different kinds of experience.
I started as a member of the Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) committee, which is a subcommittee of the Fellows Committee (FelCom). Being a member let me learn the ins and outs, and I took over as a co-chair the following year. As co-chair, I helped run the FARE competition and attended monthly FelCom meetings. After FARE, I wanted to stay involved with FelCom, which led to me pursuing the secretary and eventually the Basic Science Co-chair roles. Working in these roles with different people allowed me to develop many transferable skills, including leadership, adaptability, teamwork, relationship building and time management. I also joined the NIH Fellows Editorial Board to get more experience with project management, writing, and editing.
A lot of the informational interviews I conducted also recommended that I get writing experience for non-technical audiences, so I pursued two avenues for that. The first was the NIH Catalyst, where I got to write pieces for laypeople describing different types of research. I also spearheaded a series for the NIAID Training website where I interviewed postdocs about their recently published research and wrote highlights to showcase their work.
These experiences really helped when it came to job applications and interviews. They demonstrated that I was serious about transitioning to something different, could work with different people, coordinate things beyond lab work, and relay complex information to laypeople.
Do you have any advice for current fellows looking to pursue the same path?
Networking, networking, networking! I had the most success on my applications when I found someone willing to move my resume to where it needed to be. I found people through connections at OITE, LinkedIn, and career panels. When you network, try to ask the people you talk to if there’s someone else you should get to know. That can help lead you to the right people who will help get you where you want to go.
I would also advise starting your career search early, particularly if you are a visiting postdoc. Once I was hired, immigration paperwork really prolonged the process. Any visiting postdocs and researchers who will have to go through that process should look at the Division of International Services website and be aware of visa restrictions.
Can current NIAID fellows contact you with questions?
Absolutely! I prefer LinkedIn, so feel free to connect and message me with questions.