History of the American Medical Writer’s Association Part 1

NOTE:  This is Part 1 of a 5-part piece. Part 2 will appear next week.  

Medical writing has been around for as long as there have been people who needed it.  In other words, it is probably very ancient.  What has happened in the past several decades is that an army of communication specialists has emerged to help busy clinicians put their ideas into words. 

 

The professionalization of medical communications is an outgrowth of the professionalization of medicine that occurred in the nineteenth century. At that time, many medical societies were formed both local and national.  These included the Adams County Medical Society (founded in 1850) and the American Medical Association (founded in 1847). 

 

These organizations had their editorial boards that produced medical bulletins, but it was not until the twentieth century that Dr Harold Swanberg realized that there was much to be learned about medical writing and editing, and so set about founding a new organization dedicated to the aim of bringing physicians interested in journalism and journalists interested in medicine together to improve the quality of medical writing and editing.  The new organization was called AMWA or the American Medical Writer’s Association.  

 

AMWA carries out its mission by holding one large national conference a year and several regional ones that offer courses in medical writing and editing that members can use towards various kinds of certification. For example, I took 8 courses towards my core certification in medical writing and editing.  Four of those were in the general category, and included courses in grammar and punctuation.  Four of the others were in the elective category.  I picked the pharmaceutical elective, and took courses in how to write clinical study reports, how to file INDA submissions, how to understand lab reports and ethics.  For more details on AMWA, and the services it provides its members, go to the AMWA website. 

        Asklepios image: wikipedia

        Quill pen image: wikipedia

– Cynthia Haggard is a medical writer and editor and lives in Washington DC.  She recently opened her own business, Clarifying Concepts, which provides grant writing, speechwriting, technical writing, writing for the public and regulatory affairs services.  To see more, please go to clarifyingconcepts. (c) 2008 All rights reserved.