Author Archives: Roxanne Khamsi

We’re looking for a locum manuscript editor

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Nature Medicine (https://www.nature.com/nm) seeks a Locum Assistant Editor to join its editorial team for a six-month period.

This exciting position, based in Nature Publishing Group’s New York office, involves working closely with the Chief Editor and other members of the journal team on all aspects of the editorial process, including manuscript evaluation, organizing peer-review, writing for the journal, and developing the content of the title, both in print and online.

The full details can be found here.

It’s a great way to explore the possibility of a career in scientific publishing. And if this is not the right opportunity for you, feel free to share it with a friend.

Our news internship

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As described in the job listing earlier this month, Nature Medicine is currently accepting applications for its science writing internship.

The intern will be closely involved in the editorial process and write news articles and briefs. This is not a paper-pushing internship! The person selected for the position will be reporting stories and working on editorial content full-time, including the blog (https://blogs.nature.com/spoonful/).

Applicants should have completed one year in a graduate program in journalism or have equivalent work experience in journalism. Additionally, a strong understanding of biology and current issues in medicine is required. The six-month, paid internship will start in late May and be based in New York City.

The deadline for applications is 2 April 2012.

Please send an email to r.khamsi@us.nature.com with “Nature Medicine news internship” in the subject line and include 1) a cover letter, 2) your resume and 3) three published writing clips.

American scientist arrested in stem-cell clinic sting

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Cross-posted from the Nature News Blog

An American university scientist was arrested on 27 December, accused of supplying stem cells for use in unapproved therapies.

The US Department of Justice says Vincent Dammai, a researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, supplied the stem cells without the approval of his university or of the US Food and Drug Administration. Two other men, Francisco Morales of Brownsville, Texas, and Alberto Ramon, of Del Rio, Texas, were also arrested this week as part of the case. A fourth man, Lawrence Stowe of Dallas, Texas, has been charged and a warrant is out for his arrest, according to an FBI press release.

Click here to continue reading.

Our Spoonful gets a more polished look

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You probably notice today that the Spoonful of Medicine blog has had some “work done”. But unlike many celebrities of our day, we’re not ashamed to dish on the details of our cosmetic surgery. Thanks to the hard work of our web developers, the blog should be easier to read and navigate. The revamp has also made our blog archive more readily available, so if you’re feeling nostalgic, click on the right to rekindle memories of days when Bush’s stem cell ban reigned supreme (which you’re likely not) or the retreat of swine flu. There’s a spiffy new commenting tool as well, so let us know what you think.

We launched this blog almost five years ago to the date as a place to expand on the news and commentary that you find in Nature Medicine. The journal comes out each month, but here in the Spoonful blog you can get your daily serving of information about drug development and policy changes affecting biomedical research.

From here forward, the Spoonful of Medicine will continue to bring you interviews with leading thinkers in global health and the pharmaceutical industry, such as Seth Berkley (formerly of IAVI, now with GAVI) and the new head of the US National Institutes of Health’s stem cell center, Mahendra Rao. We’ll also continue to dish on business news, in the tradition of earlier stories about the most expensive drug in the world, leadership woes at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and how companies are coping with the so-called ‘patent cliff’.

You’ll also find pharmaceutical news off the beaten path on the Spoonful blog, comic-book-style drug reports, reviews of pharmaceutical-themed art exhibits and medicine-inspired musical apps. And, further off the path: movie reviews of films such as Contagion, Extraordinary Measures and We Were Here, a documentary of the AIDS epidemic. You can also find our in-house videos, including a short one about DIY-labs, medical apps for the iPhone, and innovative diagnostic tools for developing-world settings.

If you’re more inclined to teaspoons of news than tablespoons, you can get your fix via Twitter. We’re also on Facebook and Google+. If RSS is more your style, you can subscribe to our feed here. And if you’d rather listen than read, you can subscribe to our monthly podcast via iTunes.

Screenshot of Nature Medicine’s Facebook Page

Many of you reading this blog are scientists, or have some sort of scientific inclination, so don’t be afraid to experiment with how you get your Spoonful of Medicine. Please note, however, that side effects may include an uncontrollable urge to discuss the forecasted market share of biologic drugs at your office holiday party or singing a song about DNA that you can’t get out of your head. Should either of these adverse reactions occur, please consult your doctor.