#MedCommsDay 2023
Meet Lela Creutz
Lela Creutz is an Executive Medical Writer located in the US, working on the Takeda Oncology account. Lela has been in medical communications (Med Comms) since 2006; she started as a freelancer, then joined Peloton Advantage, which merged with OPEN Health, 8 years ago.
An interview with Lela Creutz, Executive Medical Writer
In this interview, Lela shares her journey into the Med Comms industry, the challenges faced in preparing companion articles, techniques for communicating complex subjects and the key ingredients for a successful career in Med Comms.
How did you get into the Med Comms industry?
In academia, I found that I was quite limited in the scope of what I could study, but Med Comms offered me the opportunity to learn about lots of different subjects. I found I loved the detective work of diving into a whole new therapy area — it was a breath of fresh air!
What are you most proud of in your career so far?
My recent companion publications in Cancer Discovery are probably my proudest achievement. I just think it is a really great feeling when these types of studies are published and the information becomes available to physicians. Ultimately, I hope that this can make a small contribution to improving outcomes for patients with cancer.
What challenges did you face in preparing the companion articles for publication?
The two companion articles tell the story of the development of the same drug from different angles. The first article sets the stage for the patients’ unmet needs and the preclinical data. The second article reports the first clinical data from patients with lung cancer.
We were working with lots of authors across the two articles, who each had their own view on what mattered most, but we had to make sure that the articles complemented each other and told a cohesive narrative. Incorporating all that feedback while wrestling with the complex data was challenging, but I am really happy with the outcome.
What lessons have you learned from that experience?
I think the key thing I have learned is that you have to pay attention to every single piece of feedback you get. Sometimes when you are writing, there is a temptation to overlook a comment, assuming that the person just didn’t understand what you meant, but you have to be willing to think, “Well, there must be a reason that they made that comment.” I think you have really got to make the effort to take every single person's input seriously and try to address it in an appropriate manner.
How do you ensure that you communicate complex subjects to different audiences effectively?
Even if you are writing for an expert audience, you still need to make things accessible. The first and most important part is being confident that you understand the subject yourself. You have to really know it inside and out before you can write it accurately. Then you need to think from the perspectives of the readers you want to reach.
You don't want to make it too simple for someone who has a solid background in the subject area, but it still should be readable by somebody who is not an expert. If you were writing something for patients, you would use a very different vocabulary than you would for physicians.
I've always thought that the more simply and concisely you can write something, the more likely you are to be understood.
Finally, what do you think is the key to a long, successful career in Med Comms?
Patience and persistence. You have to be willing to see projects through to the end. You might need to go through a lot of stages before you get there, but you will get there.
But you also need to remember you are not alone in that effort. In an agency like OPEN Health, you have a huge support network of people you work with that can help out if you are stuck or struggling.