by Helena Mello This is a follow-up post to the article: iJOBS site visit to McCann Health - The Industry, wherein I explained the company’s structure. The second part of the site visit to McCann Health was a panel discussion with 7 current employees who enlightened us about their paths to getting a job at the company and gave advice to those considering joining a healthcare advertisement firm. The panel was moderated by Roshan Rahnama, VP of McCann Managed Markets. Ms. Rahnama started by asking Senior Consultant John Denton what was the most interesting aspect of his career at McCann. Denton noted that the company has always been supportive of his desire to transition from one position to another, which was essential for him to experience the breadth of positions at McCann. McCann’s first Strategic Marketing Fellow, Jacob Martin, PharmD, was asked to explain his role and work routine. At the time of the visit, Dr. Martin has done eight-month rotations at each of the three McCann Health agencies that are specialized in different areas of the healthcare market. Despite having a scientific background, Dr. Martin mentioned that he enjoyed learning about the marketing side of healthcare advertisement - especially the creative aspect. According to him, “Creativity is a lot about asking the right questions on behalf of our clients”. Fellows are expected to leave the program with “a broad range of applicable business and clinical skills via a diverse learning experience in pharmaceutical marketing strategy”. If you are in a PharmD program and think that a role in Strategic Marketing might suit you, click here to learn more about the Fellowship. Medical writers Myka Ababon, PhD, and Whitney Winter, PhD, hold degrees in the biomedical sciences but their paths to McCann have been fairly different. I was pleased to hear both of their stories and confirm that there is no right path to starting a career as a medical writer. There are diverse ways in which one can get started. Dr. Ababon obtained her Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from Rutgers University and is a co-founder of this blog. She learned about Medical Communication by attending iJOBS events and improved her writing skills by writing for the blog (learn about her transition here). Dr. Winter completed her Ph.D. in Immunology, from University of Melbourne, Australia then did a postdoctoral training at Monash University, Australia. Just as Dr. Ababon, Dr. Winter also improved her writing skills while in academia. She worked for a number of years as a freelance science writer. Both panelists agreed that this was fundamental for them to get their feet into the medical communication world, and urged the audience to develop their writing skills – and make sure all the materials sent out, like a resume, are proofread (“no typos!” Dr. Ababon emphasized). We learned about Medical Communication Strategy, from Jenny Cardozo. Jenny is the Account Director for a subgroup of McCann Health, CMC Affinity, which focuses on medical communication solutions. She explained that her role is to bring “strategic ideas into execution” by managing a multidisciplinary team comprised of social scientists, medical writers, designers, and more. Read my first post about McCann if you want to learn more about strategic medical communication. To round up the session, the speakers were asked to share a piece of advice for those planning to join the healthcare marketing world. The President of McCann Echo, Jesse Johanson, pointed out that those that join a healthcare marketing agency through their science background have to be open to the marketing side of the organization. In other words, you are going to use your scientific knowledge to support a marketing strategy. Other panelists also mentioned that internship opportunities are a great way to transition to medical writing in order to (1) develop the skills necessary for a full-time position in the industry, and (2) experience the day-to-day activities to assess if it is something you can see yourself doing. The panelists also shared some valuable tips on the interview process and preparation for the job market:
- Get familiar with the healthcare landscape: read government-related news, regulatory affairs, be up-to-date on pharma industry, product launches, and more.
- Study the company.
- Network and have informational interviews with professionals in the field.
I hope this, and the previous, post have helped you understand a bit more about the healthcare marketing landscape! If you see yourself working at a company like McCann, consider joining our blog to improve your writing skills! We are always looking for new writers to bring in a new perspective. This article was edited by Eileen Oni and Maryam Alapa