John Dixon, independent medical writer and trainer in scientific writing skills, gives a medical writer’s perspective on advisory board organisation and report writing.

Recorded 2 August 2017 at a MedComms Networking event in Oxford. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

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ABSTRACT:

In the world of medcomms, an advisory board consists of a small group of experts in a field of medicine or medical science who are leaders in their field, brought together by a pharma company that is seeking their advice on topics related to the company’s products. Six to twelve experts will usually be present at an advisory board meeting, along with representatives from the pharma company and their medcomms agency, and a medical writer. The scope of the meeting can vary widely: it may seek to address aspects of a product’s lifecycle, challenging publications or adverse events, consensus development, or company strategy. A medical writer may attend just to write up a report, but can sometimes be involved in selecting experts, preparing meeting resources and/or facilitating the meeting.

The task of a medical writer in preparing an advisory board meeting report can be really challenging, and preparation is key. The writer will need to be clear about the meeting objectives and expected outputs, as well as the attendees and their roles. The writer crucially needs to be up to speed ahead of the meeting, having read key papers, for example, familiarised themselves with acronyms and jargon in the field, and looked at examples of previous reports. Ideally, the writer should sit close to the chair at the meeting, in a position to take a good set of handwritten notes, which will be backed up by a good audio recording. The written report needs to be well-structured and readable: centred on the meeting objectives, summarising the key insights, and highlighting any gaps and future directions.

Written by Penny Gray, Freelance Medical Writer

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We are building a library of free webcasts, like this one, for the global MedComms Community and others at http://www.networkpharma.tv and we’d welcome your suggestions for new topics and speakers.

Full details of this MedComms Networking event are at http://www.medcommsnetworking.com/event_020817.html

John’s presentation (PDF format) is at http://www.medcommsnetworking.com/presentations/dixon_020817.pdf

John’s Linkedin page is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndixonlmm/

Filming and technical direction by Mario Crispino, Freelance Cameraman & Editor

[For the avoidance of doubt: this video is intended to be freely accessible to all. Please feel free to share and use however you like. Cheers Peter Llewellyn, Director NetworkPharma Ltd and Founder of the MedComms Networking Community activity at http://www.medcommsnetworking.com]