To broaden the knowledge of a PhD student and to successfully get a PhD degree, PhD students need to obtain the certificate of the Doctoral School Training Program. Therefore, PhD students are required to complete a minimum set of activities (ie, 3 specialist courses, 3 transferable skills seminars, 3 conference contributions, the annual self-reflection reports, in combination with the doctoral defense).
Last November, for the first time ever, one of the transferable skill seminars for various Flemish universities (UGent, UHasselt, VUB, and UAntwerpen) to choose from was a full-day Medical Writing seminar organized by the Emtex Academy, a brand-new department of Emtex Life Science. Despite the great added value of a job as a medical writer, this job is not yet known to the wider public. That is why Emtex Life Science has chosen to immerse a group of 22 PhD students in a scientific discipline, with an interest in both writing and clinical studies, in the world of a medical writer.
The program included the following topics:
- Introduction to drug development (different phases, key documents, guidelines, and regulations)
- Introduction to medical writing
- Clinical study protocol
- Clinical study report
- Hands-on sessions on inclusive writing, lean writing, and advanced Word tips and tricks.
The main objective of this course was to explain what medical writing is, and its importance in drug development. Also, we wanted to share our medical writer’s knowledge on 2 key documents (the clinical study protocol and clinical study report), as well as provide some interesting tips and tricks for writing scientific articles and the PhD thesis.
The students were attentively following the different sessions, asked good questions, and gave positive feedback to the trainers. At the end of the day, all attendees received their certificate, the first-ever certificates from the Emtex Academy, ensuring the quality of the training. With this seminar, which we hope to present to many more interested people, we hope to have shared our passion and inspired people for the Medical Writer job.
Our trainers, Asmin Andries (Advanced Junior Medical Writer) and Thary Jacob (Specialist Medical Writer), ended the day with a very good feeling.
Asmin: “I have been working at Emtex Life Science for over two years now. At the end of my PhD, I had no idea what a job as Medical Writer entailed, so I contacted Emtex myself to find out more about the job. Therefore, I found this full-day Medical Writing seminar an excellent opportunity to explain our job to these students. I found it a great honor to be one of the trainers to represent Emtex Life Science and the Emtex Academy. It was a very interesting day with a diverse group of students, who also showed genuine interest and asked specific questions. If you ask me, this is definitely worth repeating!”
Thary: “As I’ve been working at Emtex Life Science for more than 8 years now, a large proportion of my work is to guide and teach starting medical writers in our company, which I’ve always found this very rewarding. Starting writers don’t always know what we do and this is an on-job learning experience. Being able to explain our job right where it’s needed and to spark interest was very rewarding, as I noticed some sparks catching fire. I would be very happy to share more sparks!”
Our professionals have developed several training sessions for medical writers. We can also offer tailored courses for medical writers adapted to your specific training needs. It can take place in our facilities, your company, other locations, or even online. Our trainers are professionals with sufficient experience in the field.