NAME: ANDREW WILNER, M.D. 

EMPLOYER: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOROF NEUROLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER; COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE 

EDUCATION 

UNDERGRADUATE: YALE UNIVERSITY 

POSTGRADUATE: FACULTY OF MEDICINE AND MAIEUTICS, LILLE, FRANCE; BROWN UNIVERSITY 

INTERNSHIP: LONGBEACH VETERANS HOSPITAL, CALIFORNIA 

RESIDENCY: LOS ANGELES COUNTY HOSPITAL, CALIFORNIA; MCGILL UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTRE, CANADA 

Wilner is a multitalented physician with endless energy. Besides his classroom and clinical work, he is a medical journalist and has authored four books. He’s a divemaster, podcaster and YouTuber. He’s also medical director of Lingkod Timog, a medical mission group that travels annually to the Philippines. 

What do you like about being a medical journalist? 

I’ve always been very curious. I got started in journalism in high school. What I really like is that it allows you to get to the most interesting parts of what someone is doing. You can talk to the author for an hour or even 15 minutes and get the essence of what he/she has done as opposed to you doing two years of research to get to the exciting part. 

Most medical journalists are not physicians. As a physician, you have the background to ask in-depth questions. I have found being a medical journalist to be incredibly stimulating because I am learning all of the time. 

Any drawbacks? 

No. As a medical journalist and as a side gig, it’s a lot of fun. However, you can spend days and days writing an article and you’re only paid $500. You have to be productive and like to write. That requires time alone. 

What’s your advice for physicians who also want to write? 

Some people have asked if they need to get a journalism degree. If you’re in college and see yourself as a writer, that’s a reasonable thing to do. However, if you’re a curious physician and you’re already in a practice or you’re a resident, I don’t think that’s necessary assuming you read a lot and study medical publications—specifically the ones you wish to write for. Let’s say you’d like to write for a specific medical site, like Medscape. You can go to the publication’s website, see how the articles are set up, how long they are, what the expectations are and what you are trying to communicate—and then you’ll have an idea. Continue to contact these publications, and one day, one of them may eventually agree to let you write for them. 

Do you find the topic yourself, or are you assigned? 

Both. Sometimes, the editor has an outline in their head. For example, they could say they’re doing an issue on autoimmune disease. They suggest you may want to attend a meeting and cover X, Y and Z. On the other hand, you may say that you are attending a specific meeting in April and ask if they want any articles from that meeting. Personally, I like to meander around the meeting and find things that are interesting to me. 

Anything else to add? 

I enjoy medical journalism very much. …It has probably never been more important to have a competent medical journalist educate the public and to educate fellow physicians because there are more pharmacologic and other treatments available. There are also new side effects from the treatments; new vaccinations, for example. Someone needs to look at the data and give a straight answer as to their efficacy and risks so that the average person who has an extra 10 minutes at the end of the day can learn about them efficiently. I think it’s a really important job. All you have to do is ask the right questions and write clearly! •