Medical Editor II (DOM Infectious Diseases)

About the role

The Medical Editor II serves as an information specialist and brings expertise to scientific and/or promotional editing and writing. They work closely with the JHU Clinical Guidelines Program and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) AIDS Institute (AI) to develop, review, refine, publish, and keep up to date a portfolio of 25 to 35 clinical practice guidelines and a variety of collateral materials.

Responsibilities

• Edit and/or produce written materials/manuscripts, ensuring technical accuracy, editorial consistency, clarity, and appropriateness for the target audience using technical/scientific knowledge of the subject matter.
• Plan layouts, contract with vendors, review copy.
• Design layout and oversee production.
• Research story ideas and assign or write articles.
• Plan and manage budgets.
• Oversee advertising activities.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to create structure and form in the writing and editing of manuals and other communication vehicles.
• Perform literature reviews and Internet research on selected topics.
• Collaborate with authors on content development, editing, and submission of journal articles.
• Guide the work of design/desktop publishing staff in developing content for internal and external audiences.
• Apply subject matter expertise to edit manuscripts and other journal features.
• Interact with authors on changes, agreement to copyright release and mandatory charges, deadlines, and production requirements.
• Oversee the administrative function of the journal, e.g., publication budget, basic copy editing of non-scientific portions of the journal, editorial board meeting content and scheduling, advertising space and advertising goals, maintenance of online editing systems.
• May establish author guidelines, resource materials, and make recommendations for the overall format for journals.
• Act as lead editor for specific guidelines: Perform background research to summarize current best practices and areas of potential controversy; identify and review existing reputable clinical practice guidelines; assist authors and writing groups in defining guideline and literature review scope; assist with literature search and documentation of evidence; ensure that lead authors understand and can apply the program’s standards to guideline development; as first line of review, provide detailed feedback to authors through all stages of development; write effective author queries to help shape the text; shepherd the manuscript through multiple stages of review and revision by the writing group and committee, facilitating resolution of controversies when needed; create and maintain the EndNote reference database; develop the evidence table to facilitate rating of recommendations; ensure that all recommendations are rated for strength and quality of evidence; ensure that all required internal and external reviews are completed before submission to the NYSDOH AI for approval to publish; ensure fidelity between the approved manuscript and the published product.
• Identify possible obstacles to manuscript completion and work proactively with the Managing Editor, author, and writing group to develop and implement solutions as needed.
• As assigned or needed, propose, develop, and implement solutions and innovations to improve the program’s efficiency and ability to meet the funder’s priorities.
• Participate in regular conference calls with authors, writing groups, and committee members to ensure that the development process does not stall and that authors are able to meet deadlines.
• Travel domestically as needed for programming meetings and professional development.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field.
• Three years of related experience.
• A Master’s Degree in a related field is preferred (e.g., professional writing, public health, biological sciences).
• Demonstrably strong medical editing skills (structural and substantive editing, fact checking, copyediting, referencing, and proofreading), with working knowledge of AMA and Council of Science Editors styles for medical writing and literature citation.