Science, Writing, and Service: Building a Dream Career

Medical writing offered Diane Mabeley a new and rewarding way to put her scientific background to work. Today, she’s turned that opportunity into a thriving career—though the path wasn’t always clear.

“I really love science and medicine,” says Mabeley, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology as part of her lifelong passion for health and medicine. During years spent focused on her family, she began exploring freelance medical writing opportunities. With each project—from hospital communications to patient education materials—she discovered her growing affinity for the field. What started as a part-time venture soon revealed itself as her true calling.

Those early writing projects—for hospitals, a craniofacial institute, and the American Heart Association—confirmed her passion. Even during a fourteen-year stint in administration and HR, Mabeley continued freelancing. But she knew that to transition to full-time medical writing, she needed professional training.

The Medical Writing and Editing certificate program at the University of Chicago proved transformative in developing her professional expertise. “The fundamentals course opened my eyes to what medical writing is supposed to be,” she says. “I had lived with a narrow slice of it.” The program revealed the field’s full scope—from continuing medical education to regulatory writing—while teaching her essential skills: how to be concise, how to be clear, and how to handle complex medical concepts appropriately for different audiences.

The program’s rigorous coursework and high-quality resources laid the foundation for her success. Working with the American Medical Association Manual of Style, Mabeley developed fundamental editing skills she soon put to use on a scientific manuscript. “I wouldn’t have known what I was doing without two incredibly important courses—Fundamentals of Substantive Editing and Publication Ethics and Preparing Tables, Graphs, and Figures,” she says. “The content quality was so high. The resources we were required to read were so right on target. I wish I could have memorized all of them.”

What struck Mabeley most was the program’s hands-on approach to professional development. “All of the instructors were very smart and very approachable, and very realistic too—you could ask them questions about real-world situations.” The time with instructors proved especially valuable, with small groups of three or four students working through exercises together and getting immediate feedback. “It was like tutoring,” she says. “I loved those office hours. They were great.”

The program culminated in Freelancing in Medical Writing and Editing, an elective course that equipped her with a comprehensive set of practical strategies for launching her freelance practice. “We had to come up with a plan,” she explains. “First it was really basic, and then it had to be more specific. It had to have dollars and cents.” This practical approach helped her develop realistic expectations and strategies for building her client base and also what resources she would need to tackle the challenges ahead. 

Since launching her practice in July 2024, Mabeley has put these lessons to work systematically. She established her business as a sole proprietorship—a deliberate choice to keep start-up costs manageable—and set aside savings before beginning. Her daily routine starts with reviewing science and medicine news feeds and flagging relevant items for client projects. She splits her time between current assignments—researching, outlining, writing, and editing—and the ongoing process of developing her client base.

“I spend at least half of my time researching prospective clients,” she adds. “I determine their mission, values, services, and patient population, create a fact sheet, and craft a message matching my skills to their needs.” She tracks everything in a detailed spreadsheet, following up with contacts after a week or ten days—a methodical process she learned in the program’s freelancing course. This strategic approach is paying off: she’s already secured new clients and has more showing strong interest.

Today, Mabeley focuses on patient education, creating materials that both clinicians and patients can use together. Her work spans critical areas of medicine—from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases to postpartum depression and spinal muscular atrophy. “Health literacy results in better outcomes,” she explains. “I love being able to help someone understand it on their level. Ultimately, it’s making a difference. And that just makes me feel good.”