Virtual Fall Career Development Series: Agency Life

Erin Hare, Ph.D., is a Vice President of Science Writing at the Manhattan-based boutique PR firm Chandler Chicco Agency, which is part of Syneos Health. Formerly a neuroscience researcher, a freelance science journalist and a PIO, Erin now works with various pharma clients to share their news, engage in patient advocacy and help them contribute to the global conversation. Erin’s resume is proof that there are many different ways to work in science writing and that sometimes the most career-limiting factor is simply not knowing the job exists.

Before agency, media relations, or journalism, Erin was on track to becoming a scientist. She was well published and had earned two prestigious predoctoral fellowships while still a first-year PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh. But towards the end of the program, she knew scientific research wasn’t the right path. She began dabbling in science journalism, ultimately landing bylines in The Atlantic, STAT, FiveThirtyEight, Scientific American, and The Scientist. After graduation, she did a brief stint at the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute, where she translated patents into business pitches, before landing on the media relations team at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she got to write snappy prose about the latest cool science in vaccines, regenerative medicine, cancer, women’s health and pediatrics. Erin briefly held a somewhat similar job at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center after moving to Richmond, VA, until a string of networking leaps connected her with Chandler Chicco Agency.