CHAPTER OFFICERS
About Our 2008 Board
Catherine Magill - President
Catherine Magill has worked as a freelance scientific/medical writer and editor for three years after more than 11 years in cell biology research in Bay Area biotech companies (one job, four companies). The desire for more flexibility in her work-life drove her to look into freelance opportunities in writing/editing for biotech, and during the course of that research she found AMWA and has been active in the Northern California Chapter since 2005. She recently completed the requirements for a certificate in Editing/Writing through AMWA and served this past year as Vice President and Acting Program Chair.
Catherine got her Bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in Neurobiology and her PhD from Stanford in Neurosciences and then moved to Harvard to do post-doctoral training in Molecular Embryology. She quickly determined that she prefers Northern California life and after three years she returned to the Bay Area to work in biotech, where she focused predominantly on drug discovery in the areas of oncology and inflammation.
Other professional organizations in which Catherine participates are the Northern California Science Writer's Association, American Association of Cancer Research, Association for Women in Science, International Society for Stem Cell Research and American Society for Cell Biology.
Elizabeth Matovinovic - Vice President (President-elect)
Elizabeth Matovinovic has been an AMWA member and a medical writer for 3 years. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Master of Science in Molecular Embryology, both from Canada. As a scientist, Elizabeth has done research in several biomedical fields including respiratory illnesses, environmental epidemiology, and cardiovascular disease. A career in medical writing satisfies her broad scientific interests and fulfills her need for subject matter freshness.
In addition to medical writing, Elizabeth is active in publications planning and pharmaceutical industry related transparency issues regarding manuscript preparation and authorship. Other relevant memberships include the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and Drug Information Association. In the future, when old and wise, Elizabeth may publish some creative writing.
Sunny Bishop - Treasurer
In my 30 years of science, medical, and technical writing and editing, I have experience with academic, post-market pharmaceutical, and clinical research; hi-tech and science education in the private industry sector; and a governmental health insurance program. I have additional experience as a bookkeeper/controller for some small retail shops. Full details of my background and experience are available on my Web site.
I have an undergraduate degree in Microbiology and a Master's degree from UC Davis in Endocrinology.
I joined AMWA in 1983 and have been a member for most of the time since then. I have been on the Board of the Northern California Chapter serving as Treasurer since 2004. I passed the BELS exam in 2005.
Words that inspire:
Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
--The Golden Rule
Barbara Boughton - Secretary
Barbara Boughton is a medical writer and editor with over 25 years of experience, and concentrates on the areas of medical journalism and CME publications. She began her career as a feature writer for newspapers, and has gradually expanded into the health and medical field.
She has written for medical trade publications such as the Lancet and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute as well as consumer magazines such as Consumer Reports and Better Homes and Gardens. During her career, she's won more than a dozen journalism awards for her writing skills. She also worked for three years as the managing editor of a company that publishes CME materials, before starting to freelance six months ago.
She's been a member of AMWA for four years and is completing her AMWA medical writing certification. She is also a member of the National Association of Science Writers and the Northern California Science Writers Association.
Paula Zimlicki - Programs Chair
Paula M. Zimlicki is Publications Manager/Senior Editor at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Prior to this job, she was Medical Editor at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for 16 years. While a resident of Louisiana, Paula was Regional Director, Louisiana, for AMWA's Southwest Chapter.
Paula has been a member of AMWA since 1989 and completed its certificate in Editing/Writing. She received her B.A. in Journalism from Louisiana State University.
Paula is also a freelance editor, poet and writer. Her poetry has been published in an anthology and her medical writing has been published in The Endometriosis Sourcebook, Contemporary Press, 1995. She specializes in writing and editing womenFred Gebhart - Newsletter Editor
Fred Gebhart has been a freelancer for two decades, starting in pharmaceuticals and expanding into oncology, cardiology, and other speciality areas. He stumbled across AMWA while working the daily newspaper at a medical convention several years ago. This is Fred's first foray into chapter activities.
He graduated from UC Santa Barbara and learned the quick and dirty basics of health care as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. Fred is also a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine, the National Association of Science Writers, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Rene McCabe - Membership Liaison
Rene McCabe has been working in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas for more than 20 years (1 location, 2 jobs, 3 companies). A graduate of UC Davis, Rene completed her AMWA core certification with pharmaceutical emphasis in 1993 and her advanced certification in 2003.
Rene has been a member of AMWA since 1990 and has been active in the Northern California chapter for the last 2 years.
Prior to Rene's medical writing career, she worked in toxicology/safety assessment in nonclinical drug development. Rene's medical writing career has encompassed all phases of clinical drug development with particular focus in infectious disease, oncology and vaccines.
Rene's regulatory writing experience includes: investigational new drug applications, investigator's brochures, annual safety updates, clinical protocols, informed consents, clinical study reports, new drug applications, and standard operating procedures.
Non-elected positions
Laura Singer - Immediate Past President
Laura Singer has worked as a freelance editor in both the healthcare/pharmaceutical and computer industries in Silicon Valley for more than 20 years. An active member of the Northern California Chapter since 1997, she was elected vice president in 2005 and stepped up to head the chapter this year when the president-elect resigned. She completed her multidisciplinary core certificate at the 2006 Annual Conference and plans to take the BELS exam at the Asilomar Conference in 2007.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Laura earned a master's degree from Boston University's School of Public Communication. In addition to AMWA, she is a member of the Bay Area Editors' Forum and The BioDevice Group.
Mimi Wessling - Web Site Administrator
Mimi Wessling is a relative newcomer to the field: she has been a technical and medical writer for 7 years, and a member of AMWA-Northern California for only 3 years. She received graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (Physical Chemistry) and the University of Michigan (History of Science and Medicine). Her previous career in academia included positions at University of Michigan, Stanford University and University of Essex (U.K.)
Her professional interests are medical communication, medical ethics, translations of German scientific writing, and most recently, regulatory writing.
