Phoebe Tate

"I identify with the 'Explorer', 'Influencer' and 'Quality Controller' personality types, each in different ways.I feel like an 'Explorer' because I am always curious and eager to find out more about different areas of healthcare, new research, and what technology and medicine will look like in the future. As part of my job I find out the results of clinical trials, which test new medicines, before anyone else does, and I am often required to do research and learn constantly. I enjoy thinking methodically and working out the best solution to a problem.Being an 'Influencer', I love working as part of a team; even though most of my day is spent working independently, having other people review my work and give me new ideas is crucial to the process. My team has high standards, so they inspire me to meet those standards and go beyond if I can. I can rely on my team to help when I need it, and I want to be someone they can rely on too.I identify with a 'Quality Controller' as it is very important to me that everything is fair. I want to be proud of every piece of work I do and be happy to be judged on it - sometimes this doesn't happen on the first, second, or even third draft, but with perseverance and some insightful input from people in my team, I am generally satisfied with the result."

"My job is to communicate scientific research about diseases and medicines to the people who need to know: the doctors, scientists, and patients. The ultimate aim is to improve the lives of patients - at the moment, I work in haemophilia research, so I hope that the outcome of my writing is helping people with haemophilia get the best treatment for them. The ways we communicate vary: I help the researchers write papers for scientific journals, prepare presentations for meetings and scientific conferences, and sometimes write pieces for the patients themselves, to help breakdown the research into understandable terms. I really enjoy finding the narrative behind the research, and crafting it into a story, as stories are how people remember best.The starting salary for my role was £26,000, and there is plenty of room to progress upwards."

"I did a degree in Medical Biochemistry. As part of this, I spent a year in Rome working at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory as a trainee doing research into anxiety and social avoidance, mostly using mice as a behavioural model (which means we studied the way the mice behaved, instead of using people). I absolutely loved experiencing the culture, the weather and food of Italy, and I made some fantastic friends there. My favourite parts of my degree were the bits involving human disease and the latest medicines and treatments. After I finished, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go into scientific research or not, so I chose to do a Masters by Research - a one year commitment to see if I enjoyed it. At the same time, I came across a fast-track programme for medical writers, in which a company took people with a science degree, and trained them up so they knew how to write and communicate well. I applied successfully for both the Masters and the fast-track writing programme, and in the end I decided to do the Masters, and the company agreed that I could defer my place on the programme for a year.I spent the best part of a year researching multiple sclerosis, a neurological condition, and new ways to diagnose it. For this project, I was working with human volunteers, which increased the pressure as I wanted to find out something so their efforts had been worthwhile. I finished the year by presenting my results at a conference, and finished writing my thesis as I started the medical writing programme, so it was a very busy time!Now I am one year in as a medical writer, and loving it - the programme was extremely supportive, with two months' training and two five month placements, before settling into a permanent position."

"In my spare time, I like baking, reading, and getting outside to run or walk. I also go scuba diving, and am working my way to the next qualification - I enjoy the peace of being underwater and it is a fantastic experience to swim with turtles and other sea creatures. I am really hoping to book a diving trip somewhere exotic as soon as possible!"

"I spend my days at my desk - I work from home, so I go to my office at the top of the house. On a typical day, I split my time between a few projects - perhaps a scientific paper, a poster, and an educational slide show. I also answer a lot of emails, so the team I work with are aware of what is happening with each project. I usually have a meeting or two each day with my team or with the clients - the clients are part of a pharmaceutical company, who pay us, as writers, to help communicate the research they do. I also often message my colleagues on Skype if I have any quick questions.Medical writing can be very varied work, so I am often working on several projects at once, with different deadlines - I like being able to switch between working on something very in depth, like a scientific paper, and something that requires more creative work - making figures or interesting Powerpoint presentations.The end goal is for people to see what I produce and learn something from it, so I must always be mindful of who will be reading it."

"A Levels: Biology, Chemistry, English Literature, and MathsBSc in Medical Biochemistry with Industrial ExperienceMSc by Research in Applied Sciences"