aspire scientific - who we are and how we can help
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We’re pleased to share the first ever Aspire Scientific newsletter that we have created to tell you a little bit about ourselves and how we work. We hope you find it both useful and interesting. Serving medical communications, market access and CME-providing companies, Aspire Scientific is a medical writing agency led by experienced medical writers and supported by academic researchers at the forefront of their specialist fields. Our unique structure means we have the flexibility, capacity and experience to meet your external medical writing needs across a broad range of therapy areas. We aspire to consistently deliver high quality work, on time and in accordance with ethical codes and guidelines.TRANSCRIPT
ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 1
Aspire Scientific:
Who we are, how we can help
Welcome to Aspire! On behalf of the team at Aspire
Scientific, we’d like to welcome you
to our first ever newsletter! We hope
you find it useful, informative and
enjoyable reading.
The Aspire leadership team
In this first issue, we’d like to
introduce you to the Aspire
leadership team. You may well have
worked with Ryan or Rick, but may
not yet have had the chance to
“meet” Philippa and Jane. Now is
your chance!
Introduction to our academic team
We also wanted to tell you a little bit
about our academic team, who they
are, and how we work with them. We
are very lucky to be able to draw upon
some genuine scientific experts in
their respective therapeutic fields –
and would like to tell you about the
benefits that these scientists can
bring to you and your writing
projects.
Working with us
This section of the newsletter
provides an overview of how to get
the best out of working with us. One
of the greatest benefits arising from
the way we work is that we can
invariably take on large writing
xxxxxx
projects with little or no notice. We
believe it is this point that sets us
apart from almost any other high-
quality freelance medical writing
service.
Examples of projects and overview
of therapy area expertise
We are often asked whether we
have expertise in delivering certain
project types, and if we have good
knowledge of specific therapy
areas. Our article on this topic will
hopefully help to answer these
questions for you.
Quality and good service matters
We are thrilled to have had the
chance to work with so many good
clients over the past few years.
Without breaching client confide-
entiality, we finish the newsletter
by providing an overview of our
growing client base. We are
particularly pleased that we still
regularly work with clients who
began working with us when we first
launched Aspire. We must be doing
something right! This is mirrored by
the many good testimonials we have
received, some of which can be
found on the last page of this
newsletter
How to get in touch Macclesfield Office
Ryan Woodrow Aspire Scientific Ltd, Adelphi Mill, Bollington, Cheshire, SK10 5JB, UK
ryan.woodrow@aspire‐scientific.com +44 (0)1625 575101
Oxford Office
Rick Flemming Aspire Scientific Ltd, Faringdon Business Centre, Volunteer Way, Faringdon, Oxfordshire,
SN7 7YR, UK rick.flemming@aspire‐scientific.com
+44 (0)1367 246019
ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 2
Aspire Scientific was started in January 2012 by Ryan Woodrow, Rick Flemming, Jane Woodrow and
Philippa Flemming. A brief description of each of the team members is provided below.
Rick Flemming
Rick is a MSc and PhD‐educated scientist who has spent the past
decade working in, or for, international medical communic-ations agencies. During this time, Rick has helped deliver publications and medical education initiatives across a diverse range of therapy areas. His commitment to editorial excellence and publications best practice is absolute, and he takes
great pride in ensuring all members of our writing team also achieve these high standards. When not medical writing or refereeing between his children, Rick enjoys jamming with his guitar and watching rugby league, often at the same time.
Ryan Woodrow
Ryan brings over 15 years of experience of working within pharmaceutical companies and medical communications agencies. During this time, Ryan has developed excellent medical writing skills, a good knowledge of a number of
therapeutic areas, and extensive experience of delivering medical education and writing projects. Ryan serves on the European Committee for the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), is a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) and helps to organise educational,
careers
Meet the Aspire
Leadership Team
careers and networking events for the European medical communic-ations community. When not medical writing, Ryan enjoys hiking and also tries to enjoy watching Manchester United (not that easy this season!).
Philippa Flemming
Philippa has been a medical writer for 3 years. She received her PhD in molecular physiology from the University of Leeds and previously worked as an Innovation and Technology Manager for the UK National Health Service. Philippa uses the scientific skills and knowledge she developed in academia to add real value to many of our deliverables. Philippa recently co‐authored a peer‐reviewed paper summarising the proceedings from the fifth annual meeting of the European CME Forum, and she also attended the 2013 meeting. Philippa’s hobbies include walking her labrador puppy and playing for a local brass band.
Jane Woodrow Jane is our Company Secretary, Finance Director and HR Director rolled into one. She makes sure that we promptly complete our time-timesheets
sheets and that we submit our invoices when we should. Jane also manages our freelance academic team. Jane has more than 15 years’ experience of working in administrative roles for health-care-related industries. Prior to working for Aspire, Jane worked for AstraZeneca and SmithKline Beecham (now GSK). When not at work, Jane likes to unwind by listening to music and watching films – not always that easy with three young kids demanding attention!
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that we have an office in Macclesfield and an office in Oxford?
This should make it easy for one of our team to visit you if you are UK based and want to
meet up for a coffee or lunch to discuss how we might be able to help you. Just get in
touch! We would love to hear from you.
ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 3
Our Academic Writing Team
Who are our writers? In general, our writers are post‐doctoral scientists working at leading academic institutions in the UK. We are fully transparent and are more than happy to provide the full details of the academic writer who will be working on your project. As a taster, here are some snippets about just a few of the academics who are currently working with us:
PhD-educated immunologist working at Public Health England.
Post‐doctoral Researcher in virology at the University of Oxford.
Post‐doctoral Research Assistant at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology (OCDEM), University of Oxford.
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of Leeds specialising in Molecular Epidemiology.
Commissioning Editor for a neurology journal, with a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Oxford.
Post‐doctoral Research Fellow at Cancer Research UK.
Former Head of Molecular Biology at a biotech, with expertise in bacterial and
virological infection.
How do we attract writers of such high quality?
There is no doubt about it, we are extremely privileged to be working with people of such high quality. The
main reason for this is that we offer our academics a taste of what it is like to be a professional medical writer. We provide them with
extremely comprehensive briefs, and feedback on their work so that they can develop their writing skills.
We also provide them with valuable experience for their future careers. In addition to these benefits, we pay our academic writing team a good
rate for the services they provide. The following quote from a former member of our team, who is now
working for a medical communic-ations agency, says it all: "Working with Aspire alongside my academic role has been a fantastic experience. I have been involved in a range of oncology-based medical writing projects, which has given me a unique insight into the industry. I thoroughly enjoyed completing each assignment and really benefitted from the constructive feedback I received from Aspire. I am now leaving academia having been offered a position with a MedComms agency. My time with Aspire not only helped to confirm my career choice of medical writer, but I believe really helped with my interviews, allowing me to demonstrate a genuine interest in MedComms and my familiarity with
the industry."
Working with Aspire When we (Rick and Ryan) were sole freelance medical writers, it often frustrated us that we were continuously
turning down work. And that is the thing with good freelance medical writers – they are rarely available when you need them. The great thing about the way we work at Aspire is that:
We can invariably take on large writing projects with little or no notice.
You have the reassurance of knowing that the work sent to you has been thoroughly reviewed by either Rick or Ryan, and therefore it has been looked at by two sets of eyes before it even reaches your desk.
We believe it is these points that set us apart from any other high-quality freelance medical writing service.
Because of the way we work, we generally only take on larger writing projects of at least 3 days’ duration. This covers projects such as manuscript outlines and drafts, reports, monographs, slide decks and other larger writing
projects.
Additionally:
The way we work will not impact on your budget. We will not charge you more than the hours/budget you
provide in your brief (unless there is a strong reason, agreed with you in advance).
The way we work will have a minimal impact on your timelines. To complete a project, we may ask for up to
an additional 2 days at the most to brief and review.
We are supported by a team of rigorously selected, highly qualified academic specialists. Members of
our writing team are at the forefront of their fields (from acne to zoster) and are carefully
recruited from leading academic institutions across the UK. This means that we can provide cutting‐
edge expertise across a broad range of therapy areas. Peace of mind
Importantly, to ensure you have peace of mind:
Our writers are highly
qualified. All of our writers possess or are working towards a PhD or MD.
Confidentiality is assured. All of our writers sign confidentiality agreements.
Our writers are carefully checked. We take up two references for each and every
one of our writers.
All work is thoroughly
reviewed. All work delivered by our writers is rigorously reviewed by Ryan or Rick before it goes out, ensuring
high-quality and making your life easier.
We hold the best possible
insurance protection. We have comprehensive indemnity
insurance.
ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 4
In addition to investing in software, we attend educational meetings to remain on top of the latest processes and guidelines affecting our field.
For example, both Rick and Ryan attended the European ISMPP meeting in January 2014, and Ryan
and Philippa attended the European CME Forum in November 2013. Our therapy area expertise
Our team of writers possesses comprehensive and up‐to‐date know-ledge of a range of therapy areas,
meaning that whatever your medical writing needs, we can invariably help you.
Current areas of expertise are shown below. We have worked on at least two projects in all of these therapy
areas over the past 12 months:
Infectious diseases (hepatitis C, HIV and malaria)
Medical devices and technology (diabetes devices, spinal devices, renal dialysis)
Metabolic disorders (diabetes and acromegaly)
Neurology (epilepsy and multiple
sclerosis)
Oncology (targeted therapies,
immunotherapies and chemotherapies for a range of cancers, including breast
cancer, colorectal cancer, GIST, NSCLC, and RCC)
Pharmacology (drug‐drug
interactions, food effect, pharmacokinetics, etc.)
Respiratory (asthma and COPD)
Women’s health (fertility)
However, it is worth noting that we
have therapeutic knowledge in other areas within our academic team. Additionally, Rick and Ryan have
worked in multiple other areas in the past 15 years. Get in touch with us if you want help in an area that is not listed – and we will tell you what we
know about that therapeutic field!
Quality and good service matters Quality and good service are integral to everything we do. We are passionate about quality and do our utmost to ensure that every-thing that goes out of our door is produced and written to the very highest standards. That is why all of the work produced by our team is meticulously reviewed, edited and data checked before you see it. It is also why we have invested in the best software and tools. We believe that our quality standards are the reason that clients come back to us time and time again. Over the past 2 years we have worked with around 20 medical communications agencies. In the first 6 weeks of this year alone, we saw repeat work from 7 of these agencies! Here is just a small selection of the feedback we have received from clients. We can provide many more testimonials on request: "A super thank‐you for the outstanding work undertaken and provided to us. I am now just finishing review of the provided collective presentations; the work and professionalism is exemplary. I do hope we can work together again in the future." Vice President, USA "Very nice work. I made essentially no peer review comments and it flew through editorial because it was so well written. I shared it with [the client] and they agreed that it was well written. Many thanks for this." Managing Director, USA "I did want to say a HUGE thank you for everything you have done for us this year. We have all enjoyed working with you and the team and hope to do so again next year" Account Director, UK "You are fantastic!!! Thank you so much, I really appreciate this. It’s really great working with you, so good to know that the work we get back will be high quality and that you’re so thorough."
Senior Medical Writer, UK
Examples of projects and overview of
therapy area expertise
Prepared 24th February 2014. © Aspire Scientific Ltd
We are often asked what experience we have in delivering particular types of projects. We are also frequently asked about the therapy
areas that we are most comfortable with. Hopefully we can answer some of these questions here.
Our project expertise Because of the way we work, we typically only take on larger writing
projects of at least 3 days’ duration. Writing projects that we regularly deliver for clients include:
Clinical study manuscripts
Narrative / systematic reviews
Advisory board reports
Scientific congress reports
Slide kits
Educational materials, including
product monographs
Therapy area and product‐related training documents
Market access materials, including clinical sections of value dossiers and clinical needs
assessments
Medical information projects,
such as thought‐leader identification exercises, and online audits / digital audits of websites.
To ensure that we deliver these projects to the highest possible
standards, we invest in the latest, market-leading software.
Software we subscribe to includes:
Office 2013 (including Word 2013 and PowerPoint 2013)
EndNote X7 reference management software (http://endnote.com/about/x7)
PerfectIt editing software Journal Selector and Conference
Authority (www.sylogent.com) Adobe Acrobat Pro
We also have outstanding skills in
searching PubMed, and have access
to other databases, e.g. EMBASE.