About Medical Communications and Education Careers

Careers in the medical communications and education field involve creating research materials from scientific studies. The studies are then distributed to hospitals and medical centers. The research is used to create literature for patients, make pharmaceutical products and helps to create additional funding for future medical breakthroughs.

Pharmaceutical Representative

Pharmaceuticals are a mix of a marketing professional, communications professional and salesperson. The representatives promote pharmaceutical products by distributing literature, communicating with hospitals and doctors, hold events for medical staff and teach medical professionals about the products. A representative's job is to effectively sell the pharmaceutical product effectively and to as large of a market as possible. Pharmaceutical representatives must have at least an undergraduate degree, but many hold master's degrees.

Medical Director

Medical directors employed by pharmaceutical marketing companies focus on educating patients about medications. They may also serve as medical researchers and on in-house physician teams. All FDA regulations are overseen by the medical director. The director is in charge of insuring that medications meet the regulatory FDA guidelines, both for safety and ethical responsibility. Medical directors have a Doctorate of Medicine and possibly other graduate degrees as well.

Medical Writer

Medical writers create advertising and scientific literature that is distributed to doctors and hospital administrators. The medical writer may also oversee a team of other medical writers who create the literature. Medical writers ensure that research is presented in a clear manner, that it sells the products and that all information is factual and accurate. Medical writers may also work in the hospital, writing patient information, family information and creating class brochures and documents. Medical writers have a bachelor's or master's degrees in writing and/or healthcare related field.