Lisa Chamberlain James

Section Editor - Medical Communications/Writing for Patients

Lisa is a Senior Partner and CEO of Trilogy Writing & Consulting Ltd. Aside from management activities, she leads client projects, with extensive experience in a variety of documents. Lisa has a special interest in writing for the general public and in patient information. Following a PhD and post doc. in Pathology at Cambridge, Lisa began her medical writing career in 2000. Since then she has also been involved in the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) as a member of the Educational Committee, mentor, leader, and assessor of workshops, and teaches and reviews workshops for the American Medical Writers Association. Lisa holds an EMWA professional development certificate, is a member of TOPRA, DIA, and PIPA, initiated the EMWA PV Special Interest Group, is chair of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Committee, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Lisa@trilogywriting.com 

Contributions

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 33, Issue 3

Section Editor: Lisa Chamberlain James   Involving patients in company-sponsored medical publications: Learning from collaboration with a patient advocacy group to engage patient authors Authors: Aki Yoshikawa, Atsuko Iwata, Miho Hatano, Yuko…

Plain language summaries of clinical trial results: What is their role, and should patients and AI be involved? - Volume 33, Issue 3

Plain language summaries (PLSs) of clinical trial results are vital tools in the clinical development process for enhancing transparency and encouraging and facilitating patient engagement. The production of a PLS is now mandated in the EU for all…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 33, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships are given in honour of a former President of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies in our…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 33, Issue 1

Section Editor: Lisa Chamberlain James Meet and Share session on protecting the public from undue harm during research studies (part 2): A report Author: Sampoorna Rappaz The Communicating with the Public Special Interest Group (CwP SIG) held in…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 32, Issue 4

Editorial  Section Editor: Lisa Chamberlain James Meet and Share session on protecting the public from undue harm during research studies: A report Author: Sampoorna Rappaz In September 2023, the Communicating with the Public Special Interest…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 32, Issue 3

Introducing a new EMWA Special Interest Group: Communicating with the Public Contributors: Sampoorna Rappaz (author), Lisa Chamberlain James (section editor) The Communicating with the Public Special Interest Group (CwP SIG) held its first Meet…

AI for medical writers: Friend or foe? - Volume 32, Issue 3

Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to affect almost every industry, and medical writing is no different. But how does this relate to our industry? How will AI affect medical writers? What’s already available and what is in the pipeline?…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 32, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships are given in honour of a former President of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies in our…

The Lay Protocol Synopsis: Requirements and feasibility - Volume 32, Issue 1

The EU Regulation 536/2014 included a requirement for companies to produce a Protocol Synopsis with a recommendation for a version in lay language. This requirement stated, among other things, a maximum length of two pages. This article outlines the…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 31, Issue 3

Contributors: Sampoorna Rappaz (author), Lisa Chamberlain-James (section editor) Clarifying references: Third Meet and Share session of the Medical Communications Special Interest Group Sampoorna Rappaz Medical Writing. 2022;31(3)72-74.…

In the Bookstores - Volume 31, Issue 2

Winner of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 31, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships are given in honour of the former President of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies in our…

Value of medical writing: The regulator's perspective - Volume 31, Issue 2

In 2020, the American Medical Writers Association established a working group to assess the value of the contribution of medical writers across the health sciences industry, including a subgroup tasked to gather data on the regulatory agency’s…

Optimizing the value of regulatory writers - Volume 31, Issue 2

An expanding need for clinical documentation and regulatory health authority interactions during drug development has drawn increased attention to the role of the regulatory medical writer. This role is frequently misunderstood and poorly…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 31, Issue 1

In this issue, the Medical Communications and Writing for Patients section features two articles. The first piece, by Simon Linacre,  is a summary of the excellent work just completed by the Med Comms SIG. They have devised, run, and collated the…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 30, Issue 4

Dear All, As I’m sure you are aware, EMWA’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have been hard at work hosting “Meet & Share” sessions throughout the year. These sessions aim to encourage open and honest discussion between medical writers on a…

Plain language summaries of publications: What has COVID-19 taught us? - Volume 30, Issue 4

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the whole world, and the public has had to struggle with understanding scientific data on a daily basis. The impact of scientific misunderstanding became painfully apparent with the decline in vaccine…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 30, Issue 3

Dear All, In this edition of Medical Writing, I’m delighted to present an article from Vidhi Vashisht and colleagues on a subject very close to my heart – plain language summaries (PLSs). PLSs are summaries of clinical trial results written in a…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 30, Issue 2

Dear all, When I wrote the editorial for this issue last year, I never dreamed that a year later we would still be dealing with global lockdowns and quarantines. I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are staying safe (and sane!). The Geoff…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 30, Issue 1

Dear All, As I write this, at least some of us are likely to still be in some form of lockdown or quarantine. I pray that you and your families are all managing to stay as sane as possible, and I sincerely hope that you all stay safe and…

Writing for patients: When and how? - Volume 29, Issue 4

The move towards patient engagement and patient involvement in healthcare decisions (“shared care”) has triggered a raft of new guidances from regulatory authorities, accompanied by new regulations mandating that pharmaceutical companies engage with…

Writing for Patients - Volume 29, Issue 4

The first thing we must say is a huge “thank you” to Dr Juan Garcia Burgos and Mr Paul Blake for taking the time in an unprecedentedly manic year for the EMA to write a foreword for this issue of Medical Writing. The fact that they have prioritised…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 29, Issue 3

I’m writing this to you from lockdown. Some of us will be out of lockdown by the time you read this, and perhaps others of us will be back in! Either way, I pray that you and your families are all safe and healthy. In this issue of Medical Writing,…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 29, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships are given in honour of a former president of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies in our…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 28, Issue 4

A short field guide to veterinary medical writing

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 28, Issue 3

The more eagle eyed among you will have noticed that we are changing the title of this section to “Medical Communications and Writing for Patients”. Not the shortest of titles, I know, but hopefully it is a more accurate reflection of the content…

Lay summaries and writing for patients: Where are we now and where are we going? - Volume 28, Issue 3

We examine the trend for increasing and more transparent patient information and ask how close we have come in the last few years to producing useful and meaningful information for patients. We also outline the challenges faced by medical writers…

Winner of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 28, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships are given in honour of a former president of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies in our…

Medical Communication - Volume 28, Issue 1

Training medical writers has never been an easy task – there is a specific and demanding set of skills needed to tease out the crucial messages from data, manage stressed and pressured teams effectively, and keep up with the constant changes in the…

Medical Communications - Volume 27, Issue 4

In a follow-up to the excellent article from Douglas Fiebig on how to use your review cycle effectively, this issue presents an extremely insightful article from Diana Radovan on how to help reviewers to communicate better with writers. Diana…

Medical Communication - Volume 27, Issue 3

At the start of a medical writing career, the quality control (QC) step can fill writers with a sense of dread. Someone is holding a magnifying glass to your carefully crafted (and at this point deeply loved) document and is trying to pick holes in…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 27, Issue 2

Medical Communications - Volume 27, Issue 1

In this first issue of 2018, I’m delighted to introduce an excellent article from one of EMWA’s newest Workshop Leaders, John Dixon. Although John is new to teaching at EMWA, he’s extremely experienced in his field – or, more correctly, fields! John…

Medical Communications - Volume 26, Issue 4

Dear all,The legal side of our job is something that most of us usually give little thought to. We assume that as scientists, we are automatically on the “right side” and therefore pretty bulletproof. Why should the law affect us, as longas we have…

Medical Communications - Volume 26, Issue 3

Dear all,In this issue, Rossella Ferrari tackles the elephant in the room – how do medical writers manage to find time for their continuing professional development whilst still keeping their head above water with their ongoing project work?We all…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 26, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships (GHSs) are given in honour of a former President of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies…

Medical Communications - Volume 26, Issue 1

Well here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: In this issue we learn how the Argentine Tango can make us better writers. Really! When our contributor, Susanne Geercken, told me that this was the topic she’d  chosen, I was both intrigued and…

Medical Communications - Volume 25, Issue 3

Anyone working in pharmacovigilance (PV) will already have spent many months working their way through the ever changing updates and reforms to the Risk Management Plan (RMP), and the newly legislated RMP summary. Those not working in PV will…

Abstracts from the EMWA Spring Conference Poster Session - Volume 25, Issue 2

At this year’s Spring Conference, EMWA was delighted to introduce a poster session. There was a wide variety of posters available – all relating to aspects of medical writing or of relevance to medical writers. The poster session is an excellent…

Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Essay Competition - Volume 25, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships (GHSs) are given in honour of a former President of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies…

Legislation and the lay audience: Challenges of communicating benefit and risk in the light of new regulations - Volume 24, Issue 4

There is a paradigm shift in the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory agencies towards transparency and an emphasis on the benefit-risk ratio of medicines. The recent changes in legislation surrounding clinical documentation have produced…

Medical Communications - Volume 24, Issue 3

Dear all, However experienced you are, and whatever ‘level’ medical writer you may be, we all share the same pain… document review processes. Every medical writer has at least one horror story related to review cycles going awry, and the mere…

Special section: Winners of the Geoff Hall Scholarship essay competition - Volume 24, Issue 2

The Geoff Hall Scholarships (GHSs) are given in honour of a former President of EMWA. Geoff was a very special person, an extremely valued member of EMWA, and a very good friend to many EMWA members. He firmly believed that the future of EMWA lies…

Using social media as the patient's voice in the benefit-risk assessment of drugs: Are we ready? - Volume 24, Issue 2

There is no doubt that the public interest in healthcare-related issues is growing. This, coupled with the surge in the use of social media, leaves the pharmaceutical industry with a set of unique opportunities and challenges. The screening and…

Medical Communications - Volume 24, Issue 1

Dear all, A very warm welcome to the first issue of Medical Writing in 2015! This whole issue is dedicated to a subject very close to my heart (as I'm sure you're all well aware of by now) – plain language. Naturally, everyone benefits from text…

Post-approval regulatory writing - Volume 23, Issue 4

Very often in clinical development, we are focused solely on gaining marketing authorisation for our drugs – the scramble to be first to market, or to bring the next ‘blockbuster’ to patients. Phase I to Phase III is our primary goal. And to a…

Medical Communication - Volume 23, Issue 3

Imagine the scene… You'd like a new car. You'd like a top-of-the-range new car. And you'd like it for a decent price. So you have a look around, and pretty soon, you have a bundle of car brochures in your hand with a variety of models and prices. Do…

Medical Communication - Volume 23, Issue 2

Dear all, My first duty is to thank all of the new and aspiring medical writers who sent an entry to Head Office for the Geoff Hall Scholarship Award. The committee has awarded one scholarship this year, but we urge anyone who was not successful to…

Medical Communications - Volume 23, Issue 1

I must admit to feeling very strongly about information that is written for patients – both about the quality and the appropriateness of the information itself, and about how it is communicated. Thankfully, this topic is now enjoying some long…

Medical Communications - Volume 22, Issue 4

Meeting reports are an aspect of ‘medical’ and other technical writing that has had little discussion. The following might be of interest to medical writers asked to provide rapid, reliable, objective reports of various types of meeting. The United…

Medical Communications - Volume 22, Issue 3

Having left the office for 5 days to go to the EMWA Spring Conference, I returned to the obligatory email avalanche. While it was mostly junk (and unfortunately still no ‘congratulations on winning the lottery’ message…), there were some messages…

Announcing the Geoff Hall Memorial Scholarships - Volume 22, Issue 3

At the conference dinner in Manchester this year, the creation of two very special scholarships was announced. The scholarships are in memory of one of the founding fathers of EMWA, Geoff Hall, who sadly passed away in 2010. Geoff was not only a…

Medical Communication - Volume 22, Issue 2

I'm sitting down to write this having just returned from the DIA Euro meeting in Amsterdam. As always, it was a busy and successful meeting, with many ‘themes’ of presentations being given at once. However, this year there were many presentations…

Medical Communication - Volume 22, Issue 1

Introducing the Medical Communication section: The wild side of medical writing! Hello and welcome to a brand spanking new section of Medical Writing. When the Editor of Medical Writing, Phil Leventhal, approached me to create a new section,…