Journey From Veterinary Medicine to Medical Writing

Abstract

Being a veterinarian and medical writer is a unique, if somewhat unexpected, combination of professional skills. I say unexpected because many people view veterinarians as being only in private practice, treating everything from dogs to pot-bellied pigs. The overwhelming majority of veterinarians are in private practice, so it’s not surprising that “veterinarian” and “writer” uncommonly appear in the same sentence. When I was veterinary school, nontraditional career paths for veterinarians beyond academia or the public sector were not widely discussed. I didn’t learn about medical writing until several months after I earned my veterinary degree. Fast forward to today, with 8 years of medical writing and 4 years of freelance medical writing under my belt. Although my path to and within medical writing has been circuitous, I am fortunate that I have been able to combine my veterinary training and love of writing into a rewarding career. What I’ve learned about myself and the medical writing profession can help other veterinarians who are contemplating making the professional leap into medical writing.