EMWA Professional Development Committee (EPDC) Members 

  

Jules Kovacevic

Ergomed

Jules has been working in the CRO environment since 2006, focussing in medical affairs and medical writing and a member of EMWA since 2014. She has been actively involved in writing, budgeting, resourcing and training in medical writing for the last 12 years, particularly focusing on online training and webinars for the last few years. Successfully setting up teams in a variety of organisations and being actively involved in the development of individual writers has become a major part of her working life. In her current role as Head of Medical Writing at Ergomed, she has managed, trained and developed a global team of medical writers of varying experiences, both employees and contractors, all through online platforms and mediums. Jules runs an EMWA workshop on building medical writing teams where she shares the team model that is focussed on personal development in order to promote a positive work environment, staff satisfaction, staff retention, skill development, and a clear career path within the medical writing function. She is a member of the EPDC, taking a lead - with Laura Collada Ali - on the EMWA webinar programme.

Laura Collada Ali

Teks Sema

Laura is a freelance Medical Writing and Translation Consultant with extensive experience in delivering multilingual authoring and translation services for leading research organisations, pharmaceutical companies and government groups. She served as Public Relations Officer from 2013 to 2015 for EMWA and as member of the EMWA’s Expert Seminar Series from 2018 to 2020.

Lisa Chamberlain-James

Trilogy Writing & Consulting GmbH

Lisa is a Senior Partner and CEO of Trilogy Writing & Consulting Ltd. Aside from management activities, she leads client projects, with extensive experience in a variety of documents. Lisa has a special interest in writing for the general public and in patient information. Following a PhD and post doc. in Pathology at Cambridge, Lisa began her medical writing career in 2000. Since then she has also been involved in the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) as a member of the Educational Committee, mentor, leader, and assessor of workshops, and teaches and reviews workshops for the American Medical Writers Association. Lisa holds an EMWA professional development certificate, is a member of TOPRA, DIA, and PIPA, initiated the EMWA PV Special Interest Group, is chair of the Geoff Hall Scholarship Committee, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Johanna Chester

Johanna Chester is an Australian, freelance medical and scientific writer who specializes in publications. After completing a degree in Business (Marketing) / Arts (English) in Melbourne, Johanna began working in the medical and scientific fields in Italy. Over a 20 year period, Johanna has co-authoring over 60 publications in peer review journals in various disciplines, including surgery, dermatology, nephrology, urology, haematology, biomedical sciences, and laboratory medicine. She teaches Medical Writing at various Universities and hospitals in Italy, where she is based. Johanna has actively participated at EMWA since joining in 2022; she co-leads the Webinar program, is a member of the freelance business group, and has assisted in the creation of the Italian medical writer’s network.

Sergey Sulima

Bristol Myers Squibb

Sergey obtained a PhD in molecular and cell biology at the University of Maryland (USA) in 2013, and afterwards carried out post-doctoral research in oncology and hematology at the University of Leuven (Belgium) until 2018. His scientific bibliography includes authorship on 16 publications in leading journals such as Cancer Discovery, Leukemia, Nature, and Nucleic Acids Research. Between 2018 and 2022, Sergey was first a scientific and medical writer at BioNTech (Mainz, Germany), and then a scientific writer and publications manager at the Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging at the Helmholtz Center in Munich, Germany. As of January 2022, Sergey is employed as a senior manager in medical communications at Bristol Myers Squibb in Munich, where he is the publications lead for Germany covering the company’s clinical pipeline (oncology/hematology, immunology, neurology, and cardiovascular diseases). He is a member of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) and holds their Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP™) credential. Sergey joined EMWA in 2018, has been a workshop leader since 2020, and became member of the EPDC in 2023

John Dixon

Libra Scientific Communications Ltd

John qualified in medicine having studied at Oxford University and Guy's Hospital, London. Initially he trained as a surgeon. After gaining further experience in paediatrics, neonatology, obstetrics and gynaecology, he then became a GP. Since 2003, John has completed an MBA at Warwick University Business School. He then spent five years as Director of Medical Communications at InterComm International Ltd., becoming a healthcare communications consultant and trainer in scientific writing in 2013. His consulting and training interests include supporting researchers, medical communications agencies and medical equipment companies to ensure their scientific communications are accurate, understandable and use appropriate language. John provides training for universities and research institutes across Europe in academic writing, presentation delivery, and conference abstract and poster preparation. He is co-author of How to Publish in Biomedicine. 500 Tips for Success. 3rd Edition (2016). CRC Press.

Kari Skinningsrud

Limwric as

Kari is a Norwegian/Canadian freelance trainer and scientific/medical writer who specialises in publications. She now mostly teaches writing of publications to academic writers, some of whom she mentors on an individual basis. In previous years, she was employed by pharmaceutical industry as a manager of clinical trials, which also involved writing a range of documents for regulatory authorities. For EMWA, she regularly gives workshops on manuscript writing, grant-writing and cross-cultural communication, has been on the executive committee (2004-2009) and currently serves on the educational committee.

Helen Chambers

Costello Medical

Helen has been working in the Med Comms industry for over ten years, following a PhD in Biochemistry and period of post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge. She is currently the Global Head of Publications at Costello Medical, responsible for the overall delivery of publications projects across the company and the professional development of teams of Medical Writers based in the UK, the US, Singapore and China. She has extensive experience in a range of document types, including enhanced digital content and patient-friendly materials, and enjoys working with clients to advise on overall publication strategy.
Helen holds an ISMPP CMPP certification, teaches Healthcare Communications on the University of Cambridge Therapeutic Sciences MPhil course, has been a workshop leader for EMWA since 2016 and joined the EPDC and the EMWA Med Comms Special Interest Group in 2022.

Diana Ribeiro

Diana is a pharmacist by training and has been working as a freelance medical writer since 2019. She provides regulatory writing assistance for medical devices and drug development, but also enjoys writing blog posts and internet articles for specialist audiences. An active member of EMWA since joining in 2018, Diana was previously involved in the Freelance Business Group and served as a Sponsorship Officer.