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Official publication of the American Medical Writers Association Pacific-Southwest Chapter
AMWAPacSWJuly2014Postscripts
Special issue"Stories from My Life"By Lanie Adamson
Volume IV Issue 26
July 201 4Postscripts
EDITOR
Ajay K Malik, PhD
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Donna Simcoe, MS, MS, MBA, CMPP
President, AMWA PacSW
Postscripts Website:
http: //issuu.com/postscripts
Chapter Website:
www.amwa-pacsw.org
Find us at LinkedIn Groups:
click here
POSTSCRIPTS
AIMS AND SCOPE
Postscripts is the newsmagazine of the American Medical Writers
Association Pacific-Southwest (AMWA Pac-SW) chapter. I t
publ ishes news, notices and authoritative articles of interest in al l
areas of medical and scientific writing and communications. The
scope covers cl inical/regulatory writing, scientific writing,
publication planning, social media, current regulations, ethical
issues, and good writing techniques.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Postscripts is to facil itate the professional
development of medical writers and serve as a tool to advance
networking and mentoring opportunities among all members.
Towards this mission, Postscripts publishes significant advances
in issues, regulations and practice of medical writing and
communications; ski l ls and language; summaries and reports of
meetings and symposia; book and journal summaries.
Additional ly, to promote career and networking needs of the
members, Postscripts includes news and event notices covering
Chapter activities.
SUBSCRIPTION
Postscripts is published monthly except
in January and July. Subscription is
included in the AMWA Pac-SW chapter
membership which is automatic for al l
AMWAmembers with a mail ing address
in Southern California, Southern
Nevada and all of Arizona. This
newsmagazine is distributed on the 1 st
of each month. AMWAmembers can
request past issues by sending an email
to the editor.
INSTRUCTION FOR CONTRIBUTORS
We welcome contributions from
members and non-members alike.
Please contact editor.
ADVERTISING
Articles describing products and
services relevant to medical writers may
be considered or solicited. Members
may submit advertisements for their
services or products for free. Please
contact editor for detai ls.
American Medical Writers
Association
Pacific Southwest Chapter
(AMWA Pac-SW)
San Diego, CA
www.amwa-pacsw.org
Copyright 2011 -201 4, AMWA Pac-SW
All rights reserved.
(Authors retain copyright to their articles.)
BannerPhotoArtbyChipReuben,www.photoartwindows.com/Redphonebooth.ByPetrKratochvil,publicdomainpictures.net
Chip Reuben 2008
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 i
POSTSCRIPTS
July 201 4 | Volume 4, No. 26
COVER:LanieAdamson
Chip Reuben 2008
Special issue. . .
Stories from My Life
201 4 Lanie Mergel Adamson. All rights reserved
ii POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
iii
Lanie Adamson: Stories from My Life
The time went too fast between my first childs birth and myfirst grandsons mustache. Lanie Adamson
Copyright July 201 4 by Lanie Mergel Adamson
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrival
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
author, Lanie Mergel Adamson.
Published by American Medical Writers Association Pacific-Southwest Chapter,
San Diego (www.amwa-pacsw.org). Design, layout and production by Ajay Malik.
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
Ajay Malik and Jennifer Grodberg of the American
Medical Writers Association encouraged me to tel l
my story to a wider audience after I gave a talk on
my unusual l ife and career at the historic train
station in San Juan Capistrano, California.
Four people deserve special thanks for introducing
me to medical writing: Michele Vivirito, Mary-Jane
Branin, El izabeth Stone and Jerry McKee. Michele
and Mary-Jane read the manuscript and l iked it.
El izabeth and Jerry are, sadly, no longer with us.
Christopher J Turner edited several drafts of the
manuscript. My husband checked the chronology
and content.
People who have read the manuscript are call ing it
inspirational, touching, well-written, and a story
that needs to be told, and these nice words come
from family and friends, who might be a wee tad
biased, and from people who dont know me. I hope
you find something useful to you.
Lanie Mergel Adamson
LanieAdamson@gmail .com
July 201 4
iv POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements iv
An Unusual Route 1
Pennsylvania 1
I ts All in Your Head 1
Complications 2
College Dreams Realized and Lost 3
California 4
Childbirth Education 4
For Better or for Worse 6
Opportunity Knocks 7
Tulips, Windmills and the Rhine River 8
American School of The Hague 9
Raining Fish 9
Haughty Geese and Regal Swans 9
The Battlefields of Belgium 1 0
Looking Homeward 1 0
Back to California 1 2
AMWA 1 2
College Dreams Realized 1 4
My New Career 1 4
Career Interrupted 1 5
New Opportunity 1 6
Toastmasters 1 7
AMWAAwards 1 8
Retirement and Stand-up 1 8
Post-retirement 1 9
Parkinsons Disease 20
The Golden Apple 23
Lifes Lessons 28
AMWA Service and Honors 29
Comments by Friends 32-33
vPOSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
An Unusual Route
Pennsylvania
1 POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 2
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 43
Penn State parade Winter 1 960
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 6
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 8
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 10
Our second daughter was a lovely bridesmaid at her brothers wedding.
She and the bride were already friends, having shared some adventures
in the city, some of which I am probably better off not knowing. Our
youngest daughter was the flower girl . After the wedding, our two younger
daughters remained at home.
View from Lanie's second floor balcony in Holland: Boats on the Rhine River.
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 411
Back to California
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 12
Lanie Adamson, Elizabeth Stone, unknown, unknown (partial ly hidden), Tom Lang, and
Rebecca Voorwinden (Dutch exchange student) at Asilomar
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Ole and Lanie
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 415
New Opportunity
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 16
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 417
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AMWA Awards
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 18
Gregory Mantel l Show (bottom); Lanie at book signing event (top).
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 419
Parkinsons Disease
2
Morris AD, Rose, F. Clifford, Ed. James Parkinson His Life and Times.
Copyright Birkhauser Boston, 1 989, pp 1 31 -1 48.
3
Ibid, pp 1 52-1 61 .
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 20
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 421
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 22
The Golden Apple
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 423
.POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 24
Lanie Adamson, Barry Fox, unknown, Michele Vivirito, and Ada Kahn at AMWA Pacific
Southwest Chapter meeting, San Juan Capistrano train station, 1 991 .
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 425
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Loraine Schacher, Ada Kahn, and Karen McKeown at
an AMWA Pac-SW chapter meeting at San Juan
Capistrano train station, 1 991 .
Michael Jones presents award to Lanie Adamson at AMWA
annual conference (date unknown)
Lanie receiving AMWA President's Award at AMWA's 68
th
Annual Conference, Louisvi l le, KY (top). With Sue and Jim
Hudson (middle left); with Lisa Kaspin and Michele Vivirito
(right) at Louisvi l le. With Jenny Grodberg, Michele Vivirito
and Ajay Malik at Columbus, Ohio, 201 3 meeting. Lanie
was honored with the AMWA Golden Apple award at
AMWA's 73
rd
Annual Conference at Columbus, Ohio.
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 26
Pictures from AMWA Pac-SW event Real Life Experiences in Medical Writing by Lanie Adamson held at
beautiful Sarduccis Capistrano Bistro, San Juan Capistrano, CA, on a warm Saturday afternoon, September 8,
201 2. The bottom picture was taken via Skype from 450 miles away by Ajay Malik. Lanie's talk was summarized
by Bernard Delacruz, PhD, "Only Doctors Understand Medical Journals! Real Life Experiences in Medical
Writing" in Postscripts (Oct 201 2) Vol I I , issue 8.
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 427
Lifes Lessons
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 28
AMWA Honors
201 3 AMWA Golden Apple Award
2008 Presidents Award
1 998 AMWA Fellow
1 993 President, AMWA Pacific Southwest Chapter
AMWAWest Coast Conference (Asilomar Conference)
1 997 Conference Director, Technology and Creativity: Can They
Coexist in Biomedical Communications? AMWAWest Coast
Conference, Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA
1 995 Conference Director, The Evolving Role of the Biomedical
Communicator AMWAWest Coast Conference, Asilomar Conference
Center, Pacific Grove, CA
1 993 Conference Director, Biomedical Communications: Pursuing the
Elusive Truths AMWAWest Coast Conference, Asilomar Conference
Center, Pacific Grove, CA
AMWA Courses Taught
2008 Adamson, Lanie and Hudson, Jim. Writing for the Medical Device
Industry. AMWAAnnual Conference, Louisvi l le, KY
2008 Current Trends in Print and Electronic Publishing. AMWAAnnual
Conference, Louisvi l le, KY
2007 Current Trends in Print and Electronic Publishing (Advanced
Course), Developing Research Materials into Articles (Course). AMWA
Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
2007 Making Effective Presentations (Course), Developing Research
Materials into Articles (Course). AMWAWestern Regional Conference,
Seattle, WA
2006 Website Content: Winners and Losers (Open Forum), Current
Trends in Print and Electronic Publishing (Advanced Course),
Developing Research Materials into Articles (Course). AMWAAnnual
Conference, Albuquerque, NM
AMWA Service and Honors
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 429
2004 The Freelance Writer as Seen through the Clients Eyes. AMWA
meeting at California State University, Northridge, Nov. 20, 2004.
2004 Medical Writing. AMWA course, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA.
May 1 3, 2004.
2002 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course).
AMWAWest Coast Conference at Asilomar, Monterey, CA
2001 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course),
Current Trends and Future Directions in Publication Production
(Advanced Course). AMWAWest Coast Conference at Asilomar,
Monterey, CA
2000 Current Trends in Print and Electronic Publishing and a panelist
for Scope of Medical Communications at the AMWAAnnual
Conference, Miami, Florida
2000 Writing Opportunities in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device
Industries. AMWAMeeting, Costa Mesa, CA. Apri l 29, 2000
1 997 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course).
AMWAAnnual Conference, Boston, Mass
1 996 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course).
AMWAAnnual Conference, Chicago, IL
1 995 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course),
Current Trends and Future Directions in Publication Production
(Advanced Course). AMWAAnnual Conference, Baltimore, MD
1 994 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course),
Current Trends and Future Directions in Publication Production
(Advanced Course). AMWAAnnual Conference, Phoenix, Ariz
1 993 Developing Research Materials into Articles (Core Course),
Current Trends and Future Directions in Publication Production
(Advanced Course). AMWAAnnual Conference, Atlanta
1 993 Writing and Editing Regulatory and Nonregulatory Documents for
the Pharmaceutical Industry. AMWA Pacific Southwest Chapter
meeting, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4 30
201 3 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching presented to
Lanie Adamson. Picture courtesy of LeeAnna Glessing.
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
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POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
"I have known Lanie since long before we ever met. Her tenacity and passion precede
her. Her abil ity to nurture and educate are legend. When we did meet, Lanies warmth
drew me right in l ike we were already dear friends. For that I wil l always be glad. Being
together with Lanie, and her husband, Ole, at the 201 3 annual conference in Columbus
was the best. Seeing her on stage receiving the Golden Apple Award for her
outstanding achievements as an AMWA workshop leader, and l istening to her speech,
were inspiring. She spoke of synergy. But I know better. Lanie IS synergy."
BRIAN BASS, President, The American Medical Writers Association
Author, The Accidental Medical Writer
President, Bass Global Inc, Robbinsvil le, New Jersey
"Lanies story inspires a HOW can I make this happen? not can I make this happen?
approach to facing l ifes challenges. She embodies intel l igence, strength, charm, wit
and grace. We have all been enriched for knowing her. THANK YOU, Lanie, for al l you
have given us and continue to give."
JENNY GRODBERG , PhD, RAC
Past-President, American Medical Writers Association Pacific Southwest Chapter
Fellow, American Medical Writers Association
"What a lovely and poignant story; a shining example of the different paths we all take
to medical writing. Lanie is an elegant writer and I am honored to know her better
through her words."
DONNA SIMCOE, MS, MS, MBA, CMPP
President, American Medical Writers Association Pacific Southwest Chapter
I was Lanies roommate at the second Asilomar conference I attended. She amazed me
then with a very brief sketch of her l ife as the mother of four children, and her work as a
childbirth educator. In the years since she has amazed many more people with her
charm, her professional work, and her steely perseverance in the face of physical
difficulties. Her good writing is on display in this book. We who have been in her
presence have the added pleasure of knowing her great laugh and her delightful
personality.
LORAINE F SCHACHER, Former Editor, Postscripts,
American Medical Writers Association Pacific Southwest Chapter
32
Lanie Adamson: Stories from My Life
Cover: Lanie Adamson
My thoughts of Lanie are those of the times when we served together as members of
the AMWA Board of Directors. Her very pleasing and sociable personality added to the
overal l meaningful experience of serving as a board member. I have thoroughly
enjoyed reading her l ife story and I truly admire her continued stamina and zest for l ife
despite the physical chal lenges that she faces on a daily basis.
MICHAEL L JONES, Former Director of Medical Writing,
TKL Research, Inc, Rochelle Park, New Jersey
Lanies autobiography helps decode the mystery that so many young people entering
our profession seekHow do you become a medical writer? . . . By first committing
yourself to the goal and sticking to it, grabbing every opportunity (no matter how
outrageous it may seem), having confidence that you can persevere, and sprinkl ing a
healthy dose of fun and living l ife as it is meant to be. The sharing of this remarkable
journey is another example of Lanie's generosity and her mentoring spirit.
AJAY K MALIK, PhD, Editor, Postscripts,
American Medical Writers Association Pacific Southwest Chapter
Lanie hired me to be the librarian at Advanced Medical Optics. She gave me a chance
at a time when most employers were fi l l ing jobs with younger people. She was my
boss, my teacher and became my very dear friend. Her story here has given me a
greater appreciation of how special a person she is.
Lee MacMorris, MLS, Librarian, Abbott Medical Optics
Member, Le Gourmet Toastmasters, Orange County, California
"Lanie has always been an admired and cherished family member. Now, after reading
her l ifes story, I also have a deep appreciation for her remarkable strength of character
and abil ity to overcome and persevere while continuing to laugh at herself and her
circumstances. Lanie's heartwarming style and grace permeates her writing as much
as her persona."
LeeAnna Glessing (Lanies cousin)
Lanie Adamsons remarkable career is al l the more remarkable when you think of al l
the careers she help launch or shape. I owe my own medical writing career to Lanies
advice and advocacy. This is something I can never repay, and wil l take a lifetime to
pay forward.
AMY LINDSAY, PhD, Lindsay Biomedical Communications, Inc. , California
POSTSCRIPTS | VOL 4, NO. 26 | JULY 201 4
33