Medical Writing Good Pharma Message from the President

Volume 22, Issue 4 - Good Pharma

Message from the President

Dear colleagues

Time really does fly when you're having fun: I'm writing my third message since becoming EMWA President in May!

The 37th EMWA Conference in Barcelona was an exciting event in a great location. We welcomed 102 new members, and 240 delegates from 19 countries attended the most workshops ever included in an Autumn EMWA conference (28), most of which were overbooked. The meeting was yet another success thanks to the (mostly) obscure work of EMWA's Head Office, run by Kingston Smith Association Management, together with the voluntary contribution of workshop leaders and Executive Committee members. The opening session with Inga Abed and Nacho Mbaeliachi of the EMA was the first step in forming a collaboration that EMWA members have desired for a long time, something that we intend to build on. The networking reception meeting with representatives of the Spanish Medical Writers Association, Mediterranean Editors and Translators, and Tremédica, as well as articles on the web sites of these organisations, was our first attempt to bring EMWA into the local writing environment. The number of professional partners supporting EMWA at conferences is continuously increasing, too.

But EMWA is not only conferences. EMWA development is continuing according with priorities stated and updated through time by ECs. Our good economic performance will allow us to make some investments for an even brighter future:

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EMWA's website is undergoing a complete overhaul. The structure will be modernised to simplify navigation and avoid double id and password entering when accessing the member's section.

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E-learning capabilities are being developed, paralleling website restructuring, to complete the training we offer.

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An increasing number of high-level workshops are being developed by the Educational Committee.

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Our journal, Medical Writing, continues to increase its global reputation. The journal now has several non-EMWA subscribers and we're looking into making improvements needed to have the journal listed in citation databases.

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EMWA's presence in social media continues to increase. EMWA's Facebook profile has almost 500 ‘likes’, and interviews on Twitter (‘twitterviews’) of recognised members EMWA have attracted questions and followers. Also, LinkedIn discussions continue to be popular, with many different people contributing.

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Programs for honoring long-time members and to increase awareness by new medical writers continue to develop.

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EMWA has partnered with Adept Scientific to offer members a 50% discount on EndNote, yet another good reason to be an EMWA member. Other similar collaborations are under evaluation as partnerships with other professional associations.

The next Spring EMWA congress will be in Budapest in May, with a full day symposium dedicated to the EMA Transparency Act, which will become effective at the beginning of 2014. The collaboration has already been fruitful, as top-level speakers are expected to discuss the impact of this new legislation on the disclosure of clinical trials results.

EMWA is an organisation of medical writers who volunteer their time to provide all members what they need to improve in their profession. Those who benefit most from EMWA are the motivated individuals who volunteer to serve on the Executive Committee or board, teach workshops, or provide other year-round activities, like helping with the journal, website, or social media. Volunteering brings you into contact with a large network of experts in the field of medical writing, helps develop and demonstrate leadership skills, and provides the opportunity to share and exchange professional knowledge.

Our Executive Committee is working very well together. To keep growing our association and support different activities, we have been involving a growing number of volunteers. Being a member of the Executive Committee, in particular, gives you excellent opportunities for career advancement, but even other roles can help and can give back a substantial benefit. Voting for Executive Committee positions will take place before the May conference via an online voting system. If you would like to find out more about joining the Executive Committee, check out the job descriptions at http://www.emwa.org/EMWA-Officers.html. For those of you who don't feel ready to be a member of the Executive Committee but are interested in volunteering in some way, send an email to info@emwa.org to let us know.

The contribution of all members is fundamental to reaching our objectives, so we look forward to hearing from many EMWA members interested in volunteering for the Executive Committee or other roles!

Last but not least, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy Christmas and the 2014 you're dreaming of.

Ciao

Andrea

 

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In the Bookstores
Journal Watch
The Webscout
Regulatory Writing
Medical Communications
Manuscript Writing
Out On Our Own
Erratum
The Light Stuff

Member Login

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Editoral Board

Editor-in-Chief

Raquel Billiones

Co-Editors

Evguenia Alechine

Jonathan Pitt

Managing Editor

Victoria White

Associate Editors

Anuradha Alahari

Jennifer Bell

Nicole Bezuidenhout

Claire Chang

Barbara Grossman

Sarah Milner

John Plant

Sampoorna Rappaz

Amy Whereat

Section Editors

Daniela Kamir

AI/Automation

Jennifer Bell

Biotechnology

Nicole Bezuidenhout 

Digital Communication

Somsuvro Basu

EMWA News 

Ana Sofia Correia 

Gained in Translation

Ivana Turek

Getting Your Foot in the Door

Wendy Kingdom / Amy Whereat

Good Writing Practice

Alison McIntosh 

In the Bookstores

Maria Kołtowska-Häggström

Lingua Franca and Beyond

Maddy Dyer

Publications

Lisa Chamberlain-James

Medical Communications/Writing for Patients

Payal Bhatia

Medical Devices

Evguenia Alechine

My First Medical Writing

Anuradha Alahari

News from the EMA

Adriana Rocha

Out on Our Own

Tiziana von Bruchhausen

Pharmacovigilance

Clare ChangZuo Yen Lee 

Regulatory Matters

Sam Hamilton

Regulatory Public Disclosure

Claire Gudex

Teaching Medical Writing

Louisa Ludwig-Begall / Sarah Kabani

The Crofter: Sustainable Communications

Louisa Marcombes

Veterinary Writing

Editors Emeritus

Elise Langdon-Neuner

Phil Leventhal

Layout Designer

Chris Monk