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©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     4

The Harold Swanberg Distinguished Service Award, named 

in honor of one of the founders of AMWA, is presented to an 

active AMWA member who has made distinguished con-

tributions to medical communication or rendered unusual 

and distinguished services to the medical profession. The 

Swanberg Distinguished Service Award is presented during 

AMWA’s Medical Writing & Communication Conference. 

I am greatly honored to even have been considered for this 

award, and I want to say thank you to all those involved in 

selecting me for it.

 When I received the announcement that I was get-

ting the award, my first reaction was, “Oh wow…” followed 

quickly by, “So, why me?” As I tried to see myself from the 

outside, I realized that the thing that probably makes me eli-

gible for this award is my ongoing, almost obsessive passion 

for medical writing and its importance to the pharmaceuti-

cal industry and the world. 

 Science is nothing without people thinking about what 

it means. Contrary to what people may say, data do not 

speak for themselves. We, as informed and skeptical crea-

tures, look at the data and think about what they mean. As 

we begin to assemble each piece of insight, we put together 

a narrative and meaning. But that narrative only becomes 

powerful and has a transformative impact if it is communi-

cated, and the knowledge is transferred from the few who 

are mining those nuggets of information to the rest of the 

world. Thus, science only begets progress if it is communi-

cated effectively, and that’s where we come in. 

 Without medical writers who understand how to take 

the data beyond just numbers on a page and turn it into 

a convincing narrative, progress will stutter. Whether we 

are regulatory writers crafting a document that succinctly 

expresses to the assessors why the benefit of a drug out-

weighs the risk or we are in the med comms space taking 

the science out to the public so that people can better 

understand their bodies and their illnesses and the avail-

able treatments, we are bringing the message to the world. 

 The better we do our job, the faster the messages of 

today will drive the science and developments of tomorrow 

and improve the lives of people throughout the world. We 

saw so clearly during the pandemic the importance of get-

ting clear messages out to the world to avoid confusion and 

mistrust in science.

 So, I honestly do not believe it is an exaggeration when 

I say that medical writers bring the light to the world. Hard-

won light gleaned by researchers and doctors and patients 

who commit to research so we can learn more. But it is we 

who tell the world what has been learned, which is why it is 

our responsibility to get it right. To make sure that the texts 

we write are clear and focused on what matters. To ensure 

that no word is wasted and that we stand firm when teams 

start to veer toward text that merely repeats the data with-

out any message, or long-winded, convoluted presenta-

tions for the public that confuse rather than inform. We can 

and must strive to show the teams we work with how much 

more our documents can be and why. Helping them under-

stand the “why” is the key to achieving change.

Julia Forjanic Klapproth, PhD  /  Owner and Senior Partner, Trilogy Writing & Consulting GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany

2022 Harold Swanberg Distinguished Service Award Address
Aspire to More: Raising the Bar on Medical Writing

CONFERENCE

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AMWAJournal.org     5Aspire to More: Raising the Bar on Medical Writing

 And yet, curiously, I hear over and over again from med-

ical writers how medical writers have no authority on our 

teams. I don’t believe that. In fact, I am of the opinion that 

if we believe we have no authority, we never will. Having 

authority has to do with belief in self, in how you enter a 

room, in how you engage with others. First, you have to 

believe you are legitimate and that what you bring to the 

conversation is equal in value to what anyone else brings  

to it. 

 But when I started out in the industry, I was afraid to 

speak up in meetings, afraid to ask questions. When I did, I 

would be so nervous that I turned beet red, and that really 

didn’t help my self-confidence any! But two key things 

helped me understand that I could and should speak up.

 First, I recognized something important. I noticed that 

when I was in meetings, I often had a question or thought 

about something people were discussing. But I wouldn’t 

speak up because I thought, well, that is so obvious; if it 

made any sense, the other more experienced people in 

the room would already have said it. Right? So, I would sit 

in these meetings and watch conversations go around in 

circles, sometimes for an hour or more, and finally, some-

body else would state what I thought of an hour ago or 

ask the question that I wanted to ask. And everybody else 

would go, “Oh yes, exactly, that’s right!” What I realized 

was that maybe some of those “obvious” thoughts I was 

having weren’t so obvious and not so silly, and if I would 

only raise them as soon as I thought them, I could  

actually contribute meaningfully to saving us all time  

and making progress.

 But then I had to overcome my insecurity. Knowing I 

should say something was very different than being able 

to say it, let alone saying it confidently and without turn-

ing into a tomato. And that was where the second thing 

came into play that helped me gain the courage to speak 

with authority. I was lucky to have a strong role model in 

the room with me– Dr Barry Drees was one of the senior 

writers in my department, and we worked on several big 

projects together. If some of you are lucky enough to know 

Barry, you will know that he can speak about anything to 

anyone, anywhere, at any time. And that became my goal – 

to speak as freely and easily as Barry does. 

 So began about a 2-year journey. The first step was 

recognizing that I had something to say when I was in a 

meeting and was literally having heart palpitations in my 

effort to speak about it. But I would tell myself over and 

over, what would Barry do right now? He would be speak-

ing. So I would think, “Why aren’t you speaking? Open 

your mouth, girl! Speak!” And I would sometimes. I would 

turn beet red, and I was so nervous that what I said was 

stilted and uneven. But the more I spoke, the more people 

started to listen. And as I saw the impact of my input and 

practiced speaking up, there was a transformation, until at 

some point, I became the person I am now. I speak freely 

and frequently and have opinions on just about every-

thing. Just like Barry! 

 The reason I am telling you this is because sometimes 

people think when I say that medical writers can have 

authority if they only step up and grab it that it’s easy for 

me to say, or “I’m not like them.” But that’s not true. I was 

just lucky enough to have some good teachers and a good  

role model. 

 Which brings me to the relevance of this award. Some 

of you may already know who Dr Swanberg was. But I  

suspect many of you are like I was when I found out about 

this award, and you don’t know much about him and 

his importance to our career. Harold Swanberg was not 

only one of the founders of AMWA, he was an outspoken 

supporter of improving the education at all levels – from 

schoolchildren to medical writers, believing that offering 

everyone the opportunity of a good education would help 

society overall by helping people find fulfilling careers best 

suited to their abilities and predilections. He cofounded 

the AMWA Educational Committee in 1951, which focused 

on creating an appropriate curriculum for undergradu-

ate and graduate programs in medical writing and editing. 

He also launched a manuscript editing service through 

AMWA to help physicians improve their documents.  

Dr Swanberg not only understood that there was a need 

for people to assist physicians in communicating their 

findings but that we should be cultivating this function  

as a career. 

 I personally connect strongly with Dr Swanberg's 

vision to create a curriculum for training medical writers. 

Without our teachers and role models, only a very few will 

find success and fulfillment. While Dr Swanberg brought 


I personally connect strongly with  
Dr Swanberg’s vision to create a 
curriculum for training medical 
writers. Without our teachers and 
role models, only a very few will  
find success and fulfillment.

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AMWAJournal.org     6Aspire to More: Raising the Bar on Medical Writing

the idea to life of teaching people the essentials of medical 

writing in an editorial function, today the role of a medical 

writer has matured into much more. We are communica-

tors, cat herders, solution finders, and leaders. Our train-

ing programs must serve all these areas, including teaching 

each one of us to believe in ourselves and not shy away from 

guiding our teams to producing documents that really com-

municate effectively. Medical writing is coming of age, and 

tailored, effective training is essential to raise the bar on the 

role and perception of medical writers in our industry.

 So, to wrap up, I have to say that I am a bit dazed by  

getting this award. To be honored by your peers is incredibly 

rewarding, and I am very thankful for that recognition. But I 

accept this award with humbleness, for I stand on the  

shoulders of giants. From the inspired and tireless efforts of  

Dr  Swanberg through the generations of champions of the 

medical writer’s cause, I simply carry the torch further.  

I will do what I can to live up to what this award stands for.  

Thank you.

Acknowledgment
I thank Stephanie Vargas, MD, Principal and Medical 

Director, Med Ink Consulting, for her help in bringing the 

transcript to the page.

Author declaration and disclosures: The author notes no  
commercial associations that may pose a conflict of interest in 
relation to this article.

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