Medical E-Learning - Five years

I first became aware of Elsevier during my Zoology degree - the nonsolus tree symbol was a familiar site in journals consulted during study and revision time. After university and a stint in bookselling, I went on to become a Production Editor at Taylor and Francis (now Informa). After a year and a half, I moved to the British Veterinary Association and the journal Veterinary Record where, as an Assistant Editor and news reporter I helped cover the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak. However I quickly realised that journalism wasn’t where I saw my future.

So, five years ago, I joined Elsevier as a Development Editor. I worked on a variety of student textbooks for a year or so before moving, more or less full-time onto Gray’s Anatomy for Students. The time I spent on this book was a great one. It was exciting to develop a new product for such a famous and well-established brand - I’ve good memories of crawling around the floor on my hands and knees measuring pictures for layouts and being able to be really ‘hands on’. It was certainly worth the effort and the book has been a great success globally.

After that, I moved onto online publishing, and became the Web Content Editor for StudentCONSULT.com, where I commissioned material and helped develop new features. After a year, work began on our spin-off site USMLESteps123.com, a powerful test centre that helps medical students prepare for the United States Medical Licensing Exams, and I now have strategic responsibility for this site.

This is a relatively new area for Elsevier – electronically at least. In a way, it’s like running our own mini-company, but with the backing of a global organisation. We’re encouraged to be innovative and creative, and promote the site throughout the world. We’ve had a good first quarter this year and I can’t wait to see how well it goes from here.

Whatever happens though, I know I’ll be well prepared. We have a Personal Development Planning tool that everyone works through on an annual basis. Towards the end of the year, you do a self-appraisal and then your manager assesses your performance against your objectives. Then, you have a review meeting to plan new targets, pinpointing the areas you need to improve and the training courses that’ll help achieve your aspirations.

Back to UK profiles