Virginia is a registered UK pharmacist who, like you, is dedicated to helping people through the power of written word.
She switched career to medical copywriter and video content creator in 2020 after following her husband to Germany (as he got a job out there).
She believes in the power of community, and has built a medical writing group on LinkedIn and a YouTube channel to support everyone who wants to become a medical writer.
She is the founder of Medical Writer Magazine (MWM) and the International Medical Writers Association (IMWA).
Meet: Virginia
I’ll admit I didn’t even know medical writing existed until I found myself in it!
I was a pharmacist in London for 7 years and loved chatting with patients and helping them improve their health by breaking down complex medical terms and giving them easy “how to” guides. You could say I was a medical “speaker”!
During the 2020 pandemic, I moved abroad with my husband and I couldn’t work in a pharmacy without being able to speak German.
My turning point was realising I needed a way to make an income online. But I didn’t have a portfolio! So I dived into making my first ever website, and I started writing a blog about what I love – travel health – to build up samples of medical writing.
I won a competition to write scripts for YouTube against 900 other pharmacists and got some freelance work for an online doctor to review 80 of their pages. These scripts added to my portfolio, and a recruiter on LinkedIn helped me land a job at a medical communications agency.
But oh dear did I make some mistakes along the way – including charging a tiny amount of compensation for my work.
I love sharing my experiences as a medical writer to help you learn what I wish I knew when I got started.
I now work remotely as freelance medical copywriter, and at the Patient Information Forum (PIF), plus I coach doctors to create YouTube videos.
But nothing is more rewarding and humbling than getting the opportunity to teach you. I look forward to seeing you in the Fundamentals of medical writing course.
