Home office: Yay or nay? - Volume 31, Issue

In the first quarter of 2022, Bioforum performed an anonymous internal survey among its medical writers to understand if our employees would like to return to a physical office or prefer to stay in the home office despite the lifting of most of the…

The horror and the pity: Obesity and diabetes - Volume 21, Issue

Something less beguiling for a horror-story addict than the emergence of obesity would be hard to imagine. Start by reading the 27 August 2011 issue of the Lancet. One article predicts that the obesity rate in the UK will make the tremendous leap fro…

In the Bookstores - Volume 22, Issue

The Spirit Level

Ever had a ‘ping’ moment? This book might have been mine. I'm not a natural pessimist, but Western society today seems less cohesive and people more materialistic, stressed, unhealthy, and unhappy than in times gone by. Wealth and s…

EMWA news - Volume 21, Issue

News from the EMWA Website Manager   New role At the recent EMWA conference held in Cyprus, I assumed the position of EMWA Website Manager. While this is a daunting task, it is a challenge I am pleased to take on. To ensure that I was in a…

How FAIR are pharma publication data? - Volume 31, Issue

Sharing research data increases reusability, reduces waste, supports reproducibility and promotes innovation. In medical research, sharing data also promotes transparency and access to information relevant to patient care. While important…

Advancing the Medical Writing profession: The Joint Position Statement on the Role of Professional Medical Writers - Volume 26, Issue

A wintry London in January saw the release of the first joint position statement on the role ofthe professional medical writer (page 7). But why do we need such a statement and what does it say? The Executive Committee identified the need to update…

The COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for digitalisation and remote working in Germany - Volume 31, Issue

Remote working is ideal for medical writers, but up until a few years ago, was not widely available to those looking for a remote position with a German employer. Even though Germany is a developed country, its digitalisation has long been lagging,…

The work model of hybrid freelancing - Volume 32, Issue

Must we choose between a path as a self-employed, freelance medical writer, or as an in-house employee? It might come as a surprise that a medical writer can enjoy both worlds. If you dream of becoming a freelance medical writer but dread losing…

Risk Management - Volume 24, Issue

The thalidomide tragedy of the early 1960s cost several thousand lives, but it ultimately led to changes that will undoubtedly save many thousands more: it triggered a chain of events involving the WHO and the ICH that resulted in the…

Out On Our Own - Volume 22, Issue

We are all riding high after meeting in Manchester at the EMWA conference in May 2013. It was wonderful to see so many colleagues coming together and enjoying the new-look events that EMWA offered us for the first time. Both the Symposium Day, and Ka…