A Decade of Writing Medical Op-Eds: What I’ve Learned...and Some Favorite Tips.

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This week, LinkedIn alerted me to an anniversary. It has been ten years since my first essay appeared in Slate. It was the very first piece I published in a mainstream media outlet and the start of a fruitful partnership. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to write for a number of outlets. But Slate is where I learned the craft of writing topical, timely, and factually accurate viewpoints on a deadline. I’m grateful to have had that opportunity.

I know that many people have great op-eds in them, just waiting to be written and published. And most of what I’ve learned doing this work applies to professions beyond medicine, health, and science. So if you’re a medical colleague, a lawyer, or a teacher, or whatever, and you have ideas that you’ve been wanting to see published as an essay in your favorite media outlet, here are some key insights I’ve learned in the last decade.