Shriya Patel, PharmD
Early in my undergraduate years, a career in pharmacy already felt like it was slipping away. Struggling through my prerequisite courses, I began questioning both my direction and my abilities. The answer arrived unexpectedly in an upper-level writing course. My Linguistics professor encouraged me to take writing more seriously, telling me I was capable of producing advanced level work. I had received positive feedback on my writing for years, but this was the first time I saw it as a potential career. Despite the path being unclear, I knew it was meant for me.
From that point on, writing became the constant in an otherwise pharmacy-focused track. I secured an internship that gave me early exposure to the inner workings of medical communications agencies. A subsequent rotation gave me even greater writing responsibility, reinforcing my belief that medical writing was the career I was destined for.
I leveraged that experience to secure my first medical writing role in 2017 and have remained in the field ever since. My early positions allowed me to gain extensive experience in oncology and pharmaceutical sales training. Later roles provided excellent exposure to medical affairs but felt lacking—either involving minimal writing or in a misaligned therapeutic area.
Eventually it became clear that sales training, medical affairs, CME, and patient education are the areas I can thrive in, and that oncology is the therapeutic area I most enjoy working in. With that clarity, I decided to bring all these facets together and build a writing business I could call my own.
As a freelance medical writer, I draw upon nine years’ of in-house experience to create oncology-focused pharmaceutical sales training, medical affairs content, and educational materials for both HCP and patient audiences. If you need someone who can integrate quickly, work independently, and deliver polished, scientifically rigorous materials, explore what services I offer to help you with your next oncology project.
