Gertrude Nonterah
Gertrude Nonterah is a scientific content writer at Thermo Fisher Scientific. She found her passion for science communication and writing during her PhD while studying microbiology and immunology. In an effort to help PhD students prepare and navigate the career market beyond academia, she started The Bold PhD blog and YouTube channel.
Can you describe your academic and professional background? What path led you to pursue this field?
I have bachelor's degrees in biology and nursing and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology. I was always interested in the health sciences and so this path simply made sense. I currently work as a scientific content writer at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
How did you find this particular position, and what was the hiring process like? Is there a typical structure for this in your field?
In my role, I write marketing content for companies in the life science, health science, and pharmaceutical industries. My work falls under medical communications, which is a quickly growing industry, especially during the pandemic. There is no "structure" per se to get into medical communications. However, having writing skills, a desire to learn topics you never knew about and creativity are essential in this line of work. I work at a small company so the interview process really only consisted of two main interviews before I was hired. It helped that I had writing samples that I had shown to my future boss before I started working.
Can you tell us about your current responsibilities? What is a typical day or week like in your role?
Every day is different. I could have a string of meetings one day and the next day, I could write for eight hours straight. I most recently switched from being a content writer at an marketing agency that specialized in life and health science marketing to writing within a biotech. While there are a lot of similarities in the roles, there are also a number of differences which makes scientific and medical writing such an interesting career path. In an agency, you have multiple clients with different marketing needs. . And so this means for one client, I may be writing a ten-page white paper, while for another I might be writing a 500-word blog post and yet for another, I might be crafting social media posts. Everyday is different but I think that is what I like about it - projects change often and so I'm not doing one thing for months on end. I am still new in my role at Thermo Fisher but most of my role is centered around writing educational material that the scientific team I’m a part of can use in marketing cell therapy products.
What do you enjoy about your current job and work environment?
The chance to learn about cutting-edge technologies in life and health sciences before they truly hit the market.
What are some of the challenging aspects of your job? Is there anything you wish you had known about your job or industry before joining?
I've had some challenging projects but nothing that has thrown me for a loop. I was a freelance writer before I started in medical communications full-time so I knew most of the ropes before I got started.
Do you have any professional plans for the future? What are some future career paths that could open up for someone in your position, 5-10 years down the road?
Yes. I think over the course of time, I would like to be in a leadership role in medical communications. I think it would also be great to design a curriculum around medical communications for a university and especially for PhD, nursing, pharmacy and medical students.
What’s changing in your industry? Are there any future trends we should be aware of?
I think medical communicators have a role to play in curbing misinformation. We've seen a lot of that during this pandemic and I think more than ever, it is important that medical communicators be diligent in their work in order to curb that.
What activities, internships, or organizations would you recommend someone get involved with to help them break into this field?
I recommend the following resources:
The Bold PhD Blog (more general advice on transitioning from academia to non-academic roles)
The American Medical Writers Association
Is it common for people in your field to have a scientific/academic background (i.e. have PhDs)? Can you think of any advantages or disadvantages someone with a PhD might experience while pursuing or working in your field?
Having a PhD in the sciences is definitely helpful as a medical writer. I cannot think of a disadvantage that having a PhD might have pursuing a role in medical communications. People without PhDs can be successful in medical communications as well.
Do you have any final words of advice for those navigating these career questions? Is there anything you would have done differently given what you know now?
Read as many job descriptions as you can even before you start actively applying for jobs. What will happen when you do this is that you will find out about many skills you may not know you needed in order to enter a medical communications role. If there are skills you don't know, formulate a plan to learn those skills. If you start doing this now, by the time you interview for a job, you will be familiar with what is expected of you in that role and increase your chances of landing a role.
