january 2010

The Indiana Chapter

AMWA Indiana Chapter Newsletter January, 2010 of 5

January 2010 Newsletter

FROM THE PRESIDENT,

AMWA INDIANA

CHAPTER

Coming Soon: Expansion of Development and

Networking Opportunities

The 2009-2010 year for the AMWA chapter had a strong

beginning in October with an enthusiastic board. I

welcomed back our previous board members, many now

taking on additional roles, and enthusiastically welcomed

our new board members Michael Mihm and BethAnn

Garni-Wagner. Within a couple months, all positively

impacted our chapter through organizing our Chapter

meet-and-greet in Dallas, a new networking event at

Jillian’s, and making solid strides in preparations for our

Chapter Conference – a conference which will again

forge new territory by collaborating with the Ohio Valley

Chapter for a day of learning at the zoo.

In creating our goals for this year (right column), I built

upon the chapter’s strong foundation of developing our

members through enrichment activities and the need to

strengthen our networking opportunities. Development of

new enrichment activities is the focus of Mike Mihm,

Program Chair, and Anne Wolka, Education Chair, who

already have proposed many ideas for stimulating

enhancement events. Expansion of our development and

networking activities into the biotechnology community

has already begun through David Caldwell, Secretary,

and his current network. In addition to connections within

Indy, other future activities will involve connecting with

members outside of Indianapolis and with members of

surrounding chapters. To ensure you do not miss any of

these future activities, check out this newsletter and

frequently visit our website (http://www.hoosieramwa.org)

for the most current information.

In closing, I encourage you to continuously take charge of

your career development and strengthen your professional

network. I, personally, find it easy to become comfortable

in my current job and begin neglecting these important

activities. I suspect others of you may be tempted in the

same way. So, to help keep ourselves better informed, we

have some new additions to our chapter newsletter and

website. Firstly, our newsletter now features a “The Best Of”

column, with brief notes of what our editor considers of

interest from the AMWA Journal and AMWA website (page

4). We also now include a list of nearby chapter events, as

we become aware of them (page 2). Finally, in light of

uncertain times and the need to stay updated on the job

market, our website now includes a job post page,

initiated under our immediate past-president’s watch.

Please let me know if you hear from employers who would

like their job posting placed on our website. I will ensure

the post is uploaded to our website.

All the best and much success to you in this new year and

decade.

Kristin Bullok, President

AMWA Indiana Chapter

Indiana Chapter Goals for 2009-2010:

1. Grow the profession/Grow the chapter

-Develop external connections with Indiana

academic and biotechnology communities

-Formalize roadmap for not-for-profit status

application

2. Enhance members’ professional skills

Execute 2-3 stimulating chapter events

3. Provide members with networking opportunities

Foster inter-chapter communications through

multi-chapter events

Completed Chapter Events in 2008-2009: December 2, 2009: A networking event at Jillian's

(Indianapolis, IN)

August 8, 2009: Indiana/Ohio Valley Chapters- joint

chapter conference (Camargo Pharmaceutical Services,

Cincinnati, OH)

Participants attended workshop sessions facilitated by

Susan Aiello and Jim Cozzarin. A chapter business

meeting was held over lunch to confirm the new

Indiana Chapter officers for 2009-2010. Karen Heraty

rounded off the lunch period with a discussion on

“Outsourcing Best Practices.” On August 9, a number

of members from the Indiana and Ohio Valley

chapters took the BELS exam, proctored by Jim

Cozzarin.

June 9, 2009: Leadership in Life, Love, and Medical

Communications (Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN)

Laura Mendelsohn provided the keynote address,

providing philosophical discussion about life and the

importance of communication. Following these

reflections, Laura, Elcira Villarreal and Mike Mihm

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provided answers to probing questions related to

leadership and qualities that are desirable in a leader.

The event ended with a drawing, where 3 lucky

participants walked away with an insightful book on

leadership, recommended by the panel themselves.

February 4, 2009: Presenting Orally: It's More than Just

Medical Writing (Farm Bureau Building, Indianapolis, IN)

The Indiana Chapter also recently made two $500

scholarships available to chapter members, randomly

drawn from the 11 members who entered for a chance to

win and who were independently funding their

attendance to the Annual AMWA Conference (eg, no

employer support). The announcement was sent to the

chapter via email mid-July and the scholarship awarded.

Upcoming: 2010 Indiana-Ohio Valley

Chapter Conference

April 10, 2010 (Saturday), 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Indianapolis Zoo, 1200 W. Washington St.,

Indianapolis, IN 46222

This joint conference features 4 AMWA Credit Workshops

led by Susan Aiello and Art Gertel. It also offers 4 Career

Enrichment Open Sessions (new!), which are being offered

free with conference registration.

AMWA Credit Workshops (morning):

Introduction to the Cardiovascular System (SM/SBS)

Course #1102 – Susan Aiello, DVM, ELS

Electronic Regulatory Submissions (RR/PH)

Course #406 – Art Gertel, PhD

AMWA Credit Workshops (afternoon):

Writing Abstracts (CP/EW/PH)

Course #221 – Susan Aiello, DVM, ELS

Strategies for Improving Document Quality for

Pharmaceutical Communication Managers (ADV)

Course #722 – Art Gertel, PhD

Career Enrichment Open Sessions (morning):

Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies 101

8:30-9:40 a.m.

Health Outcomes and Patient-Reported Outcomes

9:50-11:00 a.m.

Career Enrichment Open Sessions (afternoon):

Navigating the Current Medical Publications Environment

1:00-2:10 p.m.

Unexpected Places Medical Writers Work

2:20-3:30 p.m.

BELS Certification Exam in

Indianapolis

April 11, 2010 (Sunday), 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Farm Bureau Building

Offices of inVentiv Clinical Solutions

225 S. East St., Suite 200

Indianapolis, IN 46202

Please visit www.bels.org for details on applying for

candidacy and registering for the exam.

You should have received the AMWA chapter conference

registration brochure and BELS exam announcement

recently, so go ahead and register!

Upcoming events at nearby chapters

Nearby Chapter Conferences: (for more information

visit http://www.amwa.org/default.asp?id=303)

Mid-Atlantic Chapter: March 20, 2010

Location: North Bethesda Marriott. North Bethesda, MD

The Electronic Common Technical Document (RR/PH)

Peggy Boe, RN

IND in eCTD Format (ADV)

Peggy Boe, RN

Ethical Standards in Medical Publication (CP/EW/PH)

Cindy Hamilton, PhD, ELS

Business Aspects of a Freelance Career (B/FL)

Cindy Hamilton, PhD, ELS

Michigan Chapter: May 14, 2010

Location: Dahlmann Campus Inn, Ann Arbor, MI

Organizing the Medical Paper (CP/EW/FL)

Susan Aiello

Effective Paragraphing (ES/G)

Susan Aiello

Journal Submissions Other than Research Articles (CP/EW)

Barbara Gastel

Medical Journalism: From Choosing a Topic Through

Polishing the Piece (CP/EW/FL)

Barbara Gastel

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Upcoming events at nearby chapters

Other events

Mid-America Chapter events (for more information, visit

http://www.amwa-midamerica.org/)

March 5, 2010, 11:30 a.m.

Tools for Evaluating Clinical Study Reports

Presenter: Linda A. Landon, PhD, ELS, President, Research

Communiqué, Jefferson City, MO

Place: Pi Pizzeria, 10935 Manchester Road, Kirkwood, MO

May 5, 2010 Writing for Blogs: Is It Worth it?

Presenter: Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D., Balbes Consultants

Pacific Southwest AMWA chapter is asking for entries

(medical articles or essays published in 2009 for a lay or a

professional audience, not including journal articles) for

the 2010 Frances Larson Memorial Award. This competition

is open to all members of AMWA. The winner of the

Frances Larson Memorial Award receives a $100

honorarium and a plaque. Entries must be postmarked by

01 May 1, 2010. For more information please visit

http://www.amwa-pacsw.org/announcements/index.html

Leadership in Scientific

Communications

-An interview with Mike Mihm Qing Zhou, PhD

Leadership is an essential quality for

success in about every career. On

June 9, 2009, the AMWA Indiana

Chapter held a chapter meeting to

explore how this quality matters for

those who work in the field of Scientific Communications.

This event, “Leadership in Life, Love and Scientific

Communications,” took place at Eli Lilly’s Faris Campus in

Indianapolis and attracted a record high attendance with

more than 30 participants.

Following a keynote address by Laura Mendelsohn, PhD,

who shared her philosophical reflections about being a

good leader and living a full life, the topic of leadership

was further explored by a lively discussion between the

audience and a leadership panel, joined by Laura and

two seasoned medical writers, Elcira Villarreal, PhD

(Manager, Global Scientific Information and

Communications, Eli Lilly and Co.) and Mike Mihm, PhD

(Manager, Medical Writing and Scientific

Communications, i3 Statprobe).

In order to share with our members the insights from this

engaging discussion, I interviewed one of our panelists,

Michael Mihm, about his thoughts about leadership in

medical writing and scientific communications. Here are

my questions and his answers:

1. What are the most important qualities you see in a

leader in scientific communications? Any qualities unique

to this field?

I think the most important qualities for leadership in

scientific communications are very similar to important

leadership responsibilities in other fields –- having a clear

vision for what you want to accomplish, effectively

communicating that vision to your team members, and

then providing clear expectations on what each team

member can do to make that vision a reality.

In my experience, medical writers tend to be very

organized and clear thinking about how they can help a

team achieve its goals, and they are really innovative

about how to improve efficiencies and get things done.

So sometimes, after sharing your vision for what you want

to achieve, the best thing you can do is get out of their

way and let them do what they do best. There is a need

to balance your focus on clearing obstacles in front of your

team versus analyzing their daily activities and how they

are getting their work done. Finding the right balance can

be tough, but I am finding that working "out in front" of

your teams (rather than focusing back on what they are

doing), and empowering them to make local decisions

(within required SOP's and procedures, of course) can

really free them up to do their best work. This also tends to

make each person feel more invested about what the

team has accomplished and appears to make them more

productive in the long term as well.

Tied into that focus is Trust. At the panel discussion, this was

a word that came up over and over again – ensuring that

you facilitate a working environment where your team

members can trust you and each other with information

and learnings, where they can back each other up, and

where they can share in each other's successes. These are

all, in my opinion, crucial responsibilities of a leader. This all

starts with the example that you set in trusting your team,

and with the expectation that your team members trust

and rely on each other. It continues with following through

on commitments to your team and your customers, openly

admitting mistakes and taking responsibility, and sharing

information whenever you can. Talking about trust as a

necessary and tangible commodity and a critical factor in

your business success is key – I think Stephen Covey's book

The Speed of Trust sets a great framework for how to begin

to do this, which is why it was my recommendation as a

great book for the event.

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2. Many medical writers do not act in an actual leadership

role at work. For those who handle more technical tasks,

how are leadership skills relevant for success at work?

In medical writing, there is a significant need for leadership

without a leadership "title": leading teams through

effective project kickoff and document review meetings,

leading writing teams to final decisions within a document,

and just the skill of bringing people from various

backgrounds with very different roles and ways of thinking

together to meet common goals –- these all require a lot

of leadership. Documents are almost never written in

isolation anymore, and you need input and content from

many different people. Integrating all of that information

into a single document requires a lot of leadership, and

these are the skills that separate effective medical writers

from those who may struggle with more complex

documents or situations.

The framework of what makes an effective leader is the

same as I described before –- investing the time and the

effort to have a clear vision of what you need to

accomplish in a document, effectively communicating

that vision to the writing team (and making sure you have

their input where required), and then establishing and

following up on the expectations to get that document

written, with highest quality, on time.

3. Do you see different leadership skill sets for "leaders of

projects/tasks (specialist)" versus "leaders of people

(supervisor)"?

I think the skill sets overlap, but there are some skills that are

specific to managing people in a business environment.

Some skills are universal to project leadership and

managing a team: effective communication, setting clear

project goals, really listening to and understanding the

needs of a diverse set of people, motivating them towards

a common purpose, and working to establish and earn

trust. The skills more pertinent to supervisors really center

around performance management and conflict resolution.

Supervisors have specific responsibilities to set business

goals for employee performance, and then measure an

employee's performance towards those goals. They also

tend to get more heavily involved in mediating conflicts

between team members. Evaluating performance in an

objective and informed manner and resolving conflicts

between team members that can’t move forward alone

are activities that take a great deal of time and energy to

do, and a lot of thought and experience to do well. But

successes in those areas can be really rewarding.

Assessing one's desire to develop those skill sets (and to

spend a lot of time and effort in those areas) can be a

good exercise in making the decision as to whether

managing people or managing projects is a good career

choice for a medical writer.

4. What is your advice for early-career medical writers to

develop leadership skills?

Find people that you respect as leaders, and pay

attention to what they do (and don’t do). Ask them

questions about how they would work with particular

challenges that you face. Observing an experienced

medical writer conducting a project kickoff meeting or

team online review can teach you more about leadership

in a day than you could get from an entire book on

project management.

Find ways to get involved and accomplish new work in

teams. Accepting a role in a process improvement

initiative or joining your homeowners' association or local

AMWA chapter as an officer or volunteer gives you a

chance to work on your leadership skills in an environment

where your project work and business success are not "at

risk," but the skills you develop will be almost completely

transferable.

Finally, think about and actively seek new ways to help

your team get its work done more effectively...and then try

them! Leadership at its core is really about helping groups

of people get important things done, and the best way to

do that is by focusing on common goals and serving each

other.

(Michael John Mihm, PhD, is currently a Medical Writing

Manager in Strategic Alliances at i3 Statprobe

(Indianapolis, IN). Dr. Mihm has authored more than 100

publications in the areas of diabetes and cardiovascular

medicine.)

The Best Of

-Notes from the AWMA Journal and AMWA

website

♦ AMWA expands certificate program—AMWA is updating

its educational program with more workshop offerings and

certificates. The new certificate program forms on the

foundation of the Essential Skills (ES) certificate, which will

replace the old “Core” program. In addition, 4 specialty

certificates are now offered, each focusing on an area of

key interest: Composition and Publication (CP), Regulatory

and Research (RR), Business (B), and Concepts in Science

and Medicine (SM).

For each certificate, you will need to complete 8

workshops (including 1 certificate-specific ethics-related

workshop) within 6 years of enrollment. You can enroll in

and pursue multiple certificates at the same time.

However, you will need to complete an Essential Skills,

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Core, or Advanced certificate before you can earn a

specialty certificate.

During the transition time, you can be assured that no

workshop credits will be lost. You can complete the

original certificate, or transfer your credits to the new

system. If you have already earned a current Core or

Advanced certificate, you can enroll in a specialty

certificate program immediately. All advanced workshops

will also still be offered, and new programs for advanced

specialty certificates will be added in the upcoming

months. For more information please visit the AMWA

website http://www.amwa.org/default.asp?id=481.

♦ MD Consult—A reminder that AMWA offers MD Consult as

a membership benefit. MD Consult is a premier

subscription-based service offering a number of full-text

journals (a list of available journals is at

http://www.amwa.org/default/members.only/mdconsultjo

urnals.pdf) and a large collection of health and medical

texts online.

To assess MD Consult, you need to log in to your AMWA

account and then click the MD Consult link located at

Members Only > Publications and Resources > MD Consult.

AMWA's access to MD Consult is limited to 2 members at a

time. Additional members trying to access the service will

have to wait to gain access until after one of the users

signs off. Therefore, please perform your searches as

quickly and efficiently as possible once you are logged on.

2009-2010 AMWA Indiana Chapter Board:

President: Kristin Bullok

President-Elect: Pam McClelland

Secretary: David Caldwell

Treasurer: Julie Beyrer

Membership Chair: BethAnn Garni-Wagner

Program Chair: Michael Mihm

Education Chair: Anne Wolka

Scholarship Chair: Elaine Crabtree

Newsletter Editor: Qing Zhou

Past President: Julie Beyrer

Contact any Board member with questions or ideas for the

chapter. See the website for contact information:

www.hoosieramwa.org.

About AMWA:

The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) is a national

organization for writers, editors, and other professionals in

medicine and science. The association was founded in 1940 and

has regional chapters throughout the United States and Canada

and members in 26 countries throughout the world. Through an

extensive educational program, various publications, and

unparalleled opportunities for networking, AMWA encourages

and enables its members to extend their professional expertise.

http://www.amwa.org/default.asp?id=481

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http://www.amwa.org/default/members.only/mdconsultjournals.pdf

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