David started as an ink stained wretch with Canadian Doctor in Montreal then to the editorship of Canadian Family Physician in Toronto, and eventually to be the first––and still only––nonphysician editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
He wrote a history of the College, and a syndicated column, Today's Health, which appeared in some hundred plus weekly newspapers, and a second book, Paging Doctors.
He came to the US as vice president of publications for a medical publishing and research company, and after 5 years formed Healthcare Media International (HMI) whose first venture was a newsletter, Medical Practice Communicator, designed to teach physicians how to communicate.
David wrote ‘Communication for Doctors’, and another for the Economist Intelligence Unit on managed care. He served for 6 years on the Board of Directors of the American Medical Publishers Association, moderated a series of panel discussions for Time Inc. on topics of interest to physicians. HMI went on to work with another 20 or more clients while contributing regularly to the British Medical Journal
He estimates that he has written, over his lengthy career, about 1000 articles, editorials and reviews.
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Gill Sellick, a primary care doctor who started recently into freelance medical writing after going through the 6-week course, “Everything you Need to Know to Start Your Freelance Medical Writing Business.” She describes the joys of working from home with young kids and how she gets new clients.
In this episode I interview Jan Bowers, who stays busy writing for medical specialty societies. After a journalism degree, she got her start in medical writing by taking the University of Chicago medical writing and editing certificate. In this episode, Jan gives helpful advice about ways to get your first assignment and shares her greatest success and failure as a freelancer.