Lessons and Insights: Katie Lillis, Ph.D.
Name: Katie Lillis
Program: IBMS Neuroscience Discipline
Graduation Year: 2023
What is your current profession? Medical Writer
What led you to choose UT Health San Antonio? I was first drawn to the breadth of neuroscience research at UT Health San Antonio and its tight connection to the clinical community. There is a fantastic foundation in interdisciplinary work overlapping with patient care. I knew this was the type of environment in which I wanted to conduct my training with the goal of improving the lives of others through vigorous biomedical research.
What did you do after graduating? After receiving my PhD, I began working as a medical writer for Nucleus Global, a company I completed an internship with as a graduate student.
Tell me more about your career path. About halfway through my doctoral training, I started to realize my passion for the field of science communication. My favorite parts of graduate school often involved sharing my research, whether this was designing slides for a presentation or developing a poster featuring my work for a conference. I enjoyed writing grants and papers, especially my dissertation, and I was eager to identify a career in which I could do projects with these skills full-time. After meeting some amazing scientists through networking events and informational interviews, I learned that medical writing allowed me to do exactly that.
Tell me about your current career, what do you do? As a medical writer, I help develop scientific content for a clinical audience. Most of my work involves designing slideshow presentations featuring clinical trial data for a variety of drugs in the market and therapeutic areas. My team meets with clients to discuss how we can effectively communicate key findings, particularly to educate and inform clinicians.
What is the most challenging part of your work? Initially, it was challenging to get caught up on clinical research processes and terminology, in addition to learning about brand-new disease states. However, my team has been incredibly supportive in teaching me everything I need to know along the way, and my PhD training has prepared me to be able to learn quickly.
What is the most rewarding part of your work? The most rewarding part of my job is the problem-solving aspect of the work. It takes a combination of creativity and critical thinking to convey complex biomedical topics in ways that are easy to understand by a variety of audiences. I enjoy the challenge of transforming information in ways that best resonate with clinicians.
What is a day like in your job? Throughout my day, I can usually be found participating in meetings with my team, developing and editing slide deck content, and reviewing relevant literature.
What advice do you have for people entering or currently in the field? For anyone interested in medical writing, my advice would be to network/conduct informational interviews and try to gain as much experience as you can in science communication. Medical writing is a large field with many subfields, including publications, regulatory, continuing medical education, promotion/commercial, etc. Learn about what each area entails by talking to those in the field or reviewing resources from organizations like AMWA.
How did the education you get at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio prepare you? My PhD training at UT Health San Antonio helped me develop the soft skills that allowed me to become a successful medical writer. Throughout my studies, I refined my skills including critical thinking, communication, project management, oral and written presentation abilities, etc. I would highly recommend the UT Career Exploration Network and the Career Prep Workshop series hosted by Enventure for learning professional skills, like how to network, prepare a resume, create a LinkedIn profile, conduct an informational interview, and negotiate your first job offer. Start thinking about career development early in your training and work on it in bite-sized pieces throughout your time as a student.