The majority of my writing experience is in writing summaries and feature articles on clinical, public health and social care research and in writing news stories and features about medical careers and the NHS.

I am also a freelance medical writer and editor with 10 years of experience in writing about medical and scientific topics.

• You can see some examples of my writing here.

Editing-wise, I specialise in copyediting medical, technical and basic science material to a high standard and in structurally editing medical and scientific articles to make them clear and relevant for the intended audience. I also have experience in commissioning and proofreading on screen and in print.

These days I work in communications, where I am the senior communications manager at the National Institute for Health Research Central Commissioning Facility.

Writing background

I spent three years as a medical writer at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which provides evidence-based guidance and advice for health, public health and social care practitioners in England.

I used to write, edit and project manage the Eyes on Evidence Awareness Service. Eyes on Evidence was a monthly email that summarised and provided expert commentary on important new research in health, public health and social care, to help busy professionals stay up to date. The newsletter was sent to almost 17,000 subscribers in medicine, public health, medicines and social care.

I also wrote Evidence Updates, which brought together and provided a commentary on new evidence relating to published NICE guidance.

I was previously the news reporter and deputy editor for BMJ Careers, the UK-based print and online jobs resource for doctors by BMJ Group. I wrote daily news stories and fortnightly features on doctors’ jobs, training, education, continuing professional development, pay, pensions and work conditions. I was also acting editor of BMJ Careers for five months, where I was responsible for planning, commissioning and editing eight pages worth of copy for the weekly British Medical Journal.

I used to write medical blog that was aimed at the general public, in which I covered medical news, clinical research, events and issues affecting clinical practice.  My blog was shortlisted for the clinical research blog of the year award in the ResearchBlogging.org Awards 2010. In addition, I have blogged for the British Medical Journal.

I have also written feature-length articles for cardiologists and profile articles about scientists who work in a variety of natural and physical science disciplines.  You can see some examples of my writing here.

I have undertaken a number of courses in critical appraisal and medical statistics, such as the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Train the Trainer course and a two-day course on medical statistics at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

I have completed a 12-week evening course on news and feature writing at the London School of Journalism, which I passed with a grade average of A, and a 12-week evening course on Teeline shorthand at the same institution, which I passed with distinction. I have also completed a one-day writing for web course with the Web Design Academy in Manchester.

Editing background

I have experience in copyediting a wide range of article types, such as clinical research papers, lab science research papers, medical case reports, news, features, reviews and commentary articles.

I was previously a senior medical editor at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). I was lead editor on a number of guidelines, standards and implementation tools in the areas of public health and social care, such as the 2017 guidelines on drug misuse prevention and antimicrobial stewardship: changing risk-related behaviours in the general population.

My copyediting experience is largely in copyediting medical material, mostly for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the British Medical Journal, monthly specialist research journals such as the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, and the eight specialty-based Nature Clinical Practice journals (now part of the Nature Reviews series).

I have worked as a freelance proofreader for the website of British daily newspaper The Guardian and as such have experience in writing and proofreading online, HTML and XML.

I also have experience in reviewing unsolicited submissions, commissioning feature articles and structurally editing articles.

 

Education and starting out

In 2005 I graduated from King’s College London with a first class BSc (Hons) in Human Biology and was awarded the Hamilton Prize in Anatomy and Human Sciences.  I spent the second year of my degree on an academic exchange at University of California, Riverside, where I was a staff writer for the Arts section of the student newspaper.

I began my career in publishing at the Society for Endocrinology, managing publication of the Journal of Endocrinology and the bi-annual newsletter of the European Society of Endocrinology.  I participated in Nature Publishing Group‘s Graduate Internship Scheme in 2006-7 and then spent two years working for Nature Clinical Practice.

• Please contact me if you would like to see a copy of my curriculum vitae.