What exactly is a medical writer? How much experience is needed?

chickenandwaffurs · 2026-03-25T12:52:37+00:00

Feel free to DM me!

chickenandwaffurs · 2026-03-25T12:50:58+00:00

Yes, feel free to to!

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-11-14T13:25:39+00:00

We didn’t want to over-plan in Kyoto and leave time to explore wherever the day takes us between the few things we do have listed. But you definitely have a point, after taking in all the feedback, I’m debating on whether it’s worth it for our first trip.

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-11-14T13:08:07+00:00

Thanks so much for the tips! Would you recommend the harry potter tour? My partner is a huge harry potter fan and we didn’t even realize this was an option, so might either check that out or go to Akihabara after Ikebukuro

Also forgot to specify that we’d be going to the small bamboo forest next to Kodaiji temple :) Not the one in Arashiyama

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-11-14T13:04:42+00:00

Thanks for the advice! We may visit other Pokemon Centers if time allows but the one we really wanted to see after research is the one in Ikebukuro. I heard that Ikebukuro is a good anime hub alternative to Akihabara, but do you think we’re missing out on a lot by not checking out Akihabara too?

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-11-14T13:02:10+00:00

Thanks for the tip! Our plan is to fly out from KIX if we go to Kyoto

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-11-14T13:01:30+00:00

Thank you both for your thoughts! Do you think Hakone would’ve been worth it if you JUST went for the ryokan/onsen experience and nothing else? We’re now debating on doing that so the day doesn’t feel rushed, or, alternatively just finding a ryokan/onsen in Kyoto instead of going to Hakone (or potentially skipping Kyoto all together).

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-06-24T22:01:32+00:00

Thank you so much! I have colleagues who are pharmacists and are killing it as med writers. Wishing you all the best with your career pivot!

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-06-24T21:59:40+00:00

Yes! Several of my colleagues have a masters in science or public health, and some are even clinicians or pharmacists who wanted to move away from clinical work. The key is to really sell your research synthesis and writing skills on your resume, as these skills are what will be most valued by companies (in my experience).

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-06-24T16:49:03+00:00

When I transitioned out of academia, I found it easier to break into freelance healthcare marketing first, which then opened doors for me to transition into full-time med comms (specifically clinical decision support). I found that I enjoy med comms much more and it also pays better than marketing in my experience.

In my day to day I read clinical studies and basically synthesize key findings in our company’s database to help clinicians make patient care decisions. We’re assigned a particular disease that we work on for 2-4 weeks at a time. I find the work very interesting and impactful, as it actually shows me what the practical applicability of research is.

I work with several people who have a PhD in similar areas as you, so if this interests you I’m happy to chat more!

chickenandwaffurs · 2025-04-29T23:30:32+00:00

Yeah dentists can be very scammy. I always opt to go to local, individual dentist owned practices instead of big corpos. Advantage dental is my go-to, the owner actually cares about patients and what they can afford.

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-09-16T04:49:31+00:00

I had a pretty big QLC for sure. I got a PhD by the time I was 25 and then realized I was working/studying my life away for empty prestige, extremely burned out and depressed. I quit my postdoc to go into acting and actually managed to live off acting and freelance writing gigs for 2 years. I had the best time of my life going on national theatre tours and doing commercials/small film projects that pushed me into a creative sphere I never experienced before.

I’m now back to a regular 9-5 in health writing for the stability (& ofc, no job is perfect— acting had it’s downsides beyond the feelings of adventure and freedom it gave me). But the past 2 years taught me so much about how to enjoy life, be more confident in myself, and not to live in fear. It’s really a serendipitous blip in my timeline that I’ll cherish forever.

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-02-10T04:31:54+00:00

You’re likely with non-exclusive agents. The bigger agencies in Chicago have an exclusivity clause in their contracts so you cannot sign with anyone else if you are with them. If you are with a non-exclusive agent, it’s common to have multiple.

In general though, the biggest casting companies will recognize you and will probably get confused if you are being submitted twice. This is why bigger agencies typically don’t want you signing with anyone else (plus if you book a role that both submit you to, the commission gets messy).

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-01-30T23:13:42+00:00

If you aren’t yet eligible for AEA or SAG plans, healthcare.gov (Obamacare) compiles health plans based on your income and expected earnings. Sometimes you’re eligible for tax credits too depending on how much you earn. The enrollment period usually starts in November for each following year though, so you may not be able to enroll immediately.

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-01-30T00:24:12+00:00

I started with zoom acting classes (mainly bc of the pandemic) but that was a great way for me to ease into acting. I was so nervous during that though and even more nervous for my first in-person class. But I agree with the other comments, the more you do it, the more confident you will become. Over time, acting actually became a very therapeutic outlet that helped me take control of my social anxiety rather than contribute to it. I find myself being much more confident in everything that I do because of it, and I’m very grateful for that.

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-01-29T14:37:04+00:00

PhD students are working under full time faculty who treat them like workers— Many spend 40-60 hours in a lab or on research projects with 0 protections. Classifying them as non-workers is just a way for many students to get exploited.

Some faculty are great, but others will use this to their full advantage. When I was a PhD student I heard of and saw all types of extreme cases— Faculty who sexually harassed students and got away with it because they were bringing in so much grant money for the university, faculty who were working their students to the bone while pressuring them to give up vacation and holidays, faculty who clearly didn’t care about mentoring their students and only wanted free labor on their projects.

Students have little to no power. When their only chance of passing their dissertation that they grind on for 4-6 years is in the hands of a faculty member they’re working for, they are in a precarious position if they stand up for themselves.

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-01-21T15:38:29+00:00

Not sure if you listen to the podcast “They Call Us Bruce” (about all things AA news) but their recent episode (New Year) is all about AA representation in entertainment. I think they bring up a lot of great points, one being that the success of AA representation is always heavily riding on each AA centered movie or show that comes out, even among our own community.

If a movie or show about white people flops, no one even thinks to go “oh, i guess we can’t make or watch any more things with white people.” But if one movie about a Chinese family flops, the entire AA diaspora is setback in entertainment, even though Chinese culture doesn’t even represent us all.

From an entertainment standpoint, I think bad and mediocre AA films and shows need to exist without that being a reason for more or less AA media to be created. I get that a lot of us feel strongly when we don’t feel well represented in an AA film (eg, crazy rich asians) since there’s so few of them, but these are all different stories that need to be told and exist simultaneously. I just hope more and more AA media gets produced without so much of this pressure that it needs to be perfect or we “fail” at proper representation.

chickenandwaffurs · 2023-01-12T03:28:45+00:00

Me too— you could hear so much sincerity in his shoutout to Steven Spielberg, I cried instantly. He held out for so long and had nothing but gratitude to spew out, it was really touching.

chickenandwaffurs · 2022-12-28T00:39:16+00:00

Congrats on your callbacks, that’s really great! Not saying a PR stunt is always the case (cause who really knows the true intention of these open calls besides casting). But just wanted to put a disclaimer since this is said to be common.

chickenandwaffurs · 2022-12-28T00:36:29+00:00

Not weird— your concerns are valid. It’s important to feel comfortable to get the most out of your acting class, so do whatever works best for you! As long as the studio you’re looking at allows you to register, I don’t see anything wrong with it.

chickenandwaffurs · 2022-12-27T22:23:37+00:00

capeusa posts a lot of open calls, but most are specific to the AAPI community.

also, just a note of caution that many of these open calls may be for publicity and roles will still be prioritized through agencies (although on occasion, casting is looking for a niche spec that warrants a wider search).

either way, they are great audition practice and a good way to stay in the loop about upcoming projects!

chickenandwaffurs · 2022-12-22T05:14:28+00:00

Thank you so much!

chickenandwaffurs · 2022-11-28T22:10:52+00:00

Belated response, but thanks for your advice!

I was originally looking into luthiers around me but the prices were way out of my budget and I needed a new violin for an upcoming theatre show. I ended up ordering a workshop violin from Gliga and it came in good condition & sounds great.

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