Ask our career expert
Paul Smaglik
Friday, 31 October 2008 22:36 UTC
Deb Koen, our career expert, will be weighing in on Nature Network users’ questions.
Koen is the president of Career Development Services in New York. The company offers career advice and coaching. Koen has been a columnist for Naturejobs for over five years. Koen looks forward to considering your toughest questions and offering her professional career perspective.
Here are some recent bits of advice she’s given.
She’ll be happy to respond to your questions in this forum—and, of course, everybody is welcome to weigh in.
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Dear Deb,
I am a student during my last year of PhD course and I feel that research at the bench is not a path for me (for the future). I am thinking about a transfer into medical writing. My first thought was a science journalism, however I would like to stay close to research, articles and publishing in the medical journals.I do not know what is the best next step towards starting my writing career. One of the choices is to take an On-line Writing Course for Biomedical Professionals on Pennsylvania University (writing letters, memos, abstracts, paper’s paragraphs plus grammar section) or take a general journalism course as it was suggested on Association of British Science Writers’ web page. Or maybe apply for a writing internship, however I do not have any certificate for my writing skills, so it could be quite difficult. Could you give me any advice? Thank you.
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I wrote my previous post to ask Deb Koen for advice, but if anyone would like to suggest something, or give any advice or just say what he or she thinks, I would be very glad. Thanks
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Anna—You’re on the right track by first researching all of the options available to you. The good news and the bad news, as you’re discovering, is that there’s more than one route to your career goal. The good news is that any one of the options you suggested in your question is likely to strengthen your skills and move you closer to medical writing. The more challenging part is to decide which is the best investment, or combination of investments, for you at this time.
One immediate pursuit to help with your decision, as well as develop skills, is to become actively involved in a professional association that specializes in scientific writing or more specifically medical writing. The benefit of affiliating with an association like the American Medical Writers Association (www.amwa.org) is that you can begin to immerse yourself in the field immediately. You’ll not only have the opportunity to benefit from training courses on medical writing, but you will build a network of people in the field who can offer advice, pass on leads and possibly even hire you.
Finally, an often overlooked step is to simply start writing. Whether anyone has hired you or not, practice your craft and begin to develop a portfolio of your writing. All the best, Deb
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Dear Deb, thank you very much for advice.So finally I have to choose the route, definitely start writing and I didn’t think about it before-join the professional association. Thank you.
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Dear Deb,
I am an Indian student persuing my PhD in national capital of India.my work is related to obesity research and related disorders. I am looking for advanced training in my subject which my lab is unable to provide.I have written to some of the univerdities and institutes however i lack funding as most of the scholarships are for full time phd and not for short term trainings.can you please guide me on this.I have spoken to professors in UK ans US universities.
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From Deb Koen:
Kiran: You’ve successfully defined your goal, and now you’re on to what I refer to as “detective work”, because it takes the perseverance and insight of a detective to uncover leads and make connections that are not readily accessible. Here are some additional steps to take in seeking to work with someone in a specific topic/field:
First, conduct an exhaustive search of the literature related to obesity and the related topics you’re interested in, using PubMed, to see what literature has been published by whom in any given topic. (PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 18 million citations from life sciences journals for biomedical articles.)
Next, if your institution has it, use the ISI’s Science Citation Index to figure out which researchers have been most cited.
Then go to any funding database where you are looking to work (for NIH, use CRISP, which is being revamped), and see which respected leaders in the field have funding in the topic. Then contact them directly. You can access NIH’s searchable funding database.
Many countries, as well as the EU, and major foundations, like HHMI and the Wellcome Trust, have similar searchable databases.
In addition, you might check with scientific associations specifically related to your subject area, e.g. The Obesity Society for potential funding opportunities. Even if none of the funding listed is directly applicable to you, this may help to generate alternative ideas for training or make links to other agencies and researchers.
Because you are most likely to reach your goal by making connections with others focused on similar research, be sure to spend time preparing your own presentation, so that you will have a concise introduction of your interests and accomplishments and a compelling case for your potential contributions as a researcher in the important area of obesity.
All the best to you, Deb
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thanks Deb…that’s really helpful.atleast i have a direction to move.Thank you
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I wrote my previous post to Deb Koen,refering to that if anyone would like to share, add or suggest something I would heartly welcome that. in the mean while i m working on Deb’s suggestions.Thanks
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hello Koen
i am persuing M.Phil. in translational health science in India.The problem that i am facing is regarding persuing my Phd as it is very new area atleast in india and i dont find anyehere offering Phd in in the same discipline.I am dental graduate. -
Hi Deb,
This is my first message in this forum (and in this site). I am Greek living in Greece. I am Greek living in Greece. I am a Forensic Psychologist and have been working as a drug counsellor in the prison program of the Drug Therapy Unit of the State Mental Hospital of Athens for 3 years. I have done my studies with british universities (my MSc (Hons) with the Open University UK and MSc in Applied Forensic Psychology with University of Leicester UK). At the moment I’m doing my PhD in the Law School of the University of Athens in Greece. My research subject is about Drug Therapy in the Criminal Justice System. I’m seriously considering after completion of my PhD to relocate to Australia to live and work. This is something I want very much to do. I studied in a mature age, in fact I started at the age of 32. Now I am 48. At this age I have to find a sponsored job in Australia so as to be provided with a work visa. I have looked up the regulations in the Australian Psychological Society where I have to get recognition from. The fact that my BSc and MSc have been obtained in british universities are an asset. Furthermore I have 2 year training in the Psychiatric Dept. of a big State General hospital in Athens and 3 years volunteer work in the Drug Unit where I am currently officially working. I would like you to tell me your opinion about all this situation of mine. Is a sponsored job easy to obtain? I would really very much appreciate any help.
Kate Minogianni
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