Jonnie Plumb has recently moved to San Francisco with Bioscript Group.

Nearly 2 years ago to the day, I made my first steps into a career in MedComms. Having toiled in academia for 10 years, MedComms seemed like an opportune way of continuing all the things I love about science (learning about new diseases, therapy areas, technologies, and meeting leaders in their field) without having to worry about failing experiments, squeezing an expanding lab team into a contracting lab space, and the obligatory lab inspections…

The light shone a path to Bioscript (in Macclesfield, UK) and I have never looked back. When an opportunity arose for myself and my wife to relocate to San Francisco at the beginning of 2017, Bioscript were wholly supportive, allowing and facilitating a move to set up a Bioscript office on the West Coast. It was time to let the sun set over Macclesfield and awaken to a new dawn of opportunities in the US.

Living and working in the Bay Area obviously has its pros, however, getting up for 6 am teleconferences with colleagues and clients in Europe is not always the easiest way to start the day. However, once Europe has gone to bed, your email alerts cease and you can focus on the jobs at hand. Step out at lunchtime for a daily dose of vitamin D and your mind is clear and you can’t help but smile.

MedComms is not without its challenges (tight deadlines, authors going AWOL etc.), but I believe you need to be challenged in order to develop, whether that’s professionally, physically or personally. So, if you’re undecided about making that step from academia, all I can say is get into MedComms, find an agency that is a perfect fit for you and see where in the world that decision takes you.

Did I mention it’s sunny over here?