A growing professional services firm in Montgomery County, MD seeks freelance science writers to develop highly scientific, technical, and public health communications materials for federal agencies, research organizations, public health initiatives, and their stakeholders. The Science Writer will translate complex scientific, medical, technical, and policy information into accessible materials that support research dissemination, stakeholder engagement, scientific advisory activities, and public health initiatives.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Draft, edit, and format scientific and technical materials for diverse audiences, including researchers, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the public.
- Develop meeting summaries, executive summaries, reports, white papers, policy briefs, fact sheets, manuscripts, newsletters, website content, presentation materials, and other similar documents on scientific topics.
- Collect and translate complex scientific, statistical, and policy concepts into concise, accessible language while maintaining technical accuracy.
- Support communications activities related to scientific workshops, federal advisory committee meetings, webinars, and conferences.
- Attend and document scientific meetings (both in person and virtually) on a regular basis, capturing high-level outcomes and action items quickly and accurately.
- Contribute to scientific translation/adaptation frameworks and materials (such as profiles, toolkits, explainers, educational scripts) to enable knowledge applications across domains.
- Draft and edit scientific content for digital communications platforms as needed, including websites, email campaigns, social media, and outreach toolkits.
- Collaborate with research coordinators, technical experts, analysts, communications specialists, and editors to plan and prepare documents.
- Support editorial review, formatting, accessibility compliance, and quality assurance processes.
- Contribute to the upkeep of document libraries, contact databases, and communications tracking systems.
- Foster team, client, and stakeholder relationships through clear communication, constructive collaboration, and a positive, accountable working environment.
Required Qualifications (Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities):
- Master’s degree in relevant field (e.g. life sciences, social sciences, scientific specialty, public health/policy, or related technical area).
- 4+ years of experience producing scientific materials.
- Familiarity with biomedical research, healthcare policy, epidemiology, or public health topics (aging, ADRD, cancer, neuroscience, and similar).
- Experience supporting scientific meetings, advisory committees, or stakeholder engagement activities.
- Experience working with academic institutions or research consortia.
- Ability to synthesize complex scientific or technical information into accessible language.
- Experience writing for both technical and lay audiences.
- Ability to produce notes and summaries with quick deadlines without sacrificing quality of deliverables.
- Strong critical thinking, analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to communicate effectively in a professional manner with stakeholders at all levels.
- Proficiency in standard business productivity, collaboration, communication, and document management software, including Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint) and other commonly used business platforms such as Adobe Acrobat and Zoom.
- Legal authorization to work in the U.S.
Preferred Skills and Experience:
- PhD in relevant field.
- Familiarity with 508-compliance standards and document remediation.
- Experience supporting government contracts or federally funded research programs.
- Publication history.
Projects may require periodic on-site support at client meetings and events primarily in the DC metro area, with occasional events across the United States.
Please include your available number of hours on a weekly basis with your application.
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