AMWA Member Spotlight - Sheridan Henness

1. Brief description of what you do

I work with medical communications agencies to produce manuscripts for publication in medical journals, conference materials and medical education materials.

2.  What led you to become a medical writer?

When I started my post-doc I was working with a lot of PhD students who were having a much harder time writing up their theses than I did, which made me realise that writing came easily to me. I didn’t want to spend my life in academia so at the end of my post-doc I jumped ship into medical writing and have never looked back.

3. What do you enjoy most about being a medical writer?

The variety of project types and therapeutic areas. There’s never a dull moment!

4. What has been one of your career highlights as a medical writer and why?

Running a highly skilled, efficient, and highly valued team of medical writers for 8 years. They were amazing, and if there’s anything I miss about being employed, it’s them.

 5. What has been one of the greatest challenges for you as a medical writer and how have you addressed this?

Saying no when I know I don’t have time. I’m working on it.

6. What advice would you give fellow writers or people considering a career in medical writing?

For people who are already writing, I’d say recognise when you’re in a rut and do your best to get yourself out of it. 

For people looking at getting into medical writing, I’d say don’t think that because you have the “right” degree that that’s enough to get you into it – a degree is only a tiny fraction of what you need to succeed as a medical writer. Be open to being a beginner again.

7. What led you to join the AMWA exec committee?

Peer pressure and a weak will. 😊