Educating Edward: Emma Vinton
Meet Emma Vinton, Newcastle Impact Incubator member and founder of Educating Edward, a medical writing company that is making an impact both in the UK and across the world!
"Educating Edward” provides medical writing and medical education for doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, writing for a broad range of medical and scientific documents including conference summaries, journal manuscripts, articles, abstracts, and promotional pieces. She also marks essays for psychiatrists undertaking their professional exams and creates engaging content for health-focused websites such as ‘Psych Scene Australia'.
Emma has spent 20 years as a mental health nurse in the NHS which she loved. In 2008 she had twins (now teenagers), followed by another little boy 10 years later. She wanted to set up her own business after having her girls, for a better-quality life, but it wasn’t until after she completed her master’s degree in Public Health that she took the plunge. She wanted to work more flexibly in a role that allowed her to harness all the valuable clinical skills accrued in her nursing career.
“Educating Edward turned a year old in August this year, so I feel very proud to have reached that important ‘1 year’ milestone.”
In 2017 Emma attended a medical writing careers event at Oxford University with Peter Llewellyn, and she never looked back again, joining the EMWA – the European Medical Writers Association from where she accessed their conference training programme and then working for a medical company as a freelancer for three years before finally setting up ‘Educating Edward. A big draw for setting up her business is having to work part-time so that she never misses a school event, which is becoming increasingly important for working parents. The reality for Emma is that in her first year she needs to work more hours, but she manages her time by working flexibly; so, finishing work in the evenings, and making sure she takes time off for her family on weekends.
Emma was awarded a place in the PNE Impact Incubator where she gained access to a free city centre office space, with kitchen and conference facilities, which is great for meeting clients and helps her focus more on her work. She regularly meets up with the business advisors and her fellow participants of the Impact Incubator, to talk through ongoing business challenges. The business support sessions and webinars run by well-known companies who are experts in business development and management have helped her grow her business.
“One thing I love is that every day is different. New challenges come up all the time, whether that be around document structure, systems, and processes, or managing ever-shifting timelines. It also helps that I have access to excellent hospitals and healthcare facilities here in the Northeast, so I can keep up to date with important evidence bases, and access specialist library collections.”
Educating Edward has started to grow real momentum since working with PNE and Emma has become more focused as a business owner and as a parent as well, being able to say ‘no’ to what she doesn’t need and accept the relevant support from organisations and services with specific skill sets. By attending webinars, PNE events, and networking, she has made meaningful connections, that she would have never made without the support she gained from PNE.
The high-flying entrepreneur has some exciting projects lined up in the next few months. Emma is currently writing a GP symposium summary to support GPs in managing high-prevalence psychiatric disorders in clinical practice, and some other journal articles and marking medical essays. She is also creating some exam questionnaires for doctors undergoing their Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists qualifying exams.
Emma has also just started her MSc in Strategic Leadership programme with Newcastle University, working with a fellow PNE colleague to develop an application and was awarded a ‘Diversity in Leadership scholarship. This will allow her to develop herself as a leader and as a source of expertise in the field of Life Sciences. She can’t wait to test out new ways of working with her PNE colleagues and develop some exciting business development strategies in the upcoming year.
“Keep going when you hit a stumbling block. It’s easy to become disheartened, especially if you’re not familiar with a particular process. Get regular support from your peers and constantly network to grow that support. Also, if you don’t know something, someone else might. There’s no such thing as a silly question and confidence is key. Preparation will improve your credibility. Be friendly and amenable to everyone, as you never know when you might need their help.” – Emma Vinton, founder of Educating Edward Ltd.