Our next DOM Staff Spotlight is Mary Ann Kirkconnell Hall, Senior Medical Writer in the Division of Hospital Medicine. Learn more about our colleague below!
Tell us about yourself. Where are you from?
I’m from St. Petersburg, Florida, but I’ve been in Atlanta for almost 25 years. I’ve got two delightful teenage sons, a cranky little dog, and a whole flock of hummingbirds who I feed every summer.
What is your professional background?
It was a winding road to get to my current position, though I like to joke that I’ve just spent the past 25 years basically heading up and down Clifton Road. I started my career as an editorial fellow at the American Journal of Human Genetics when Dr. Steve Warren (RIP) was the editor. I started attending Emory’s Vaccine Dinner Club with a journal colleague for the free food (hey, I was young and broke) and it spurred my interest in public health. When the journal left for another university, I applied for and was accepted into the Global Health MPH program at Rollins. After I got my MPH, I moved to the world of evaluation consulting, where I also began doing technical writing and editing. I was a contractor at CDC for five years working as a science writer in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases before I hopped back down Clifton to the Division of Hospital Medicine in 2021.
What is your role at Emory?
I’m the Senior Medical Writer for the Division of Hospital Medicine, where I help our faculty and staff with pretty much any kind of scholarly writing tasks they need. The position was conceptualized as a semi-administrative position where someone with experience editing could step in to help faculty prepare and submit manuscripts to journals, as well as to proofread grant applications and promotion materials. When I applied, I was very enthusiastic about the job but asked if there would be any potential to incorporate evaluation/project design, writing coaching, and qualitative research. Fortunately, it turned out that my skills were a good fit for the Division, and our academic productivity has significantly increased. Our faculty are amazingly committed clinicians—I am honored to work with them—and once they got a bit of behind-the-scenes logistical assistance and writing coaching, there was no stopping them!
It’s very exciting to be able to help really talented folks realize how much they have to offer the field in a new way. I also really enjoy the opportunities I get to serve as a co-author when my contributions to manuscripts/abstracts rise to that level. I learn something new and interesting every day.
How long have you worked in the Department of Medicine?
I’ve been here almost three years now, since late 2021.
What are you currently working on? Any upcoming projects?
Our Division has two very exciting events each fall—the Emory Division of Hospital Medicine Research Day and our Clinical Vignette Competition. Both of these events are designed to support our faculty in starting or promoting their research—we intentionally use formats for our abstracts that they can then submit for presentation for the Department of Medicine Research Day and other regional and national conferences. Right now, I am helping the people who are presenting at those two events to finalize their abstracts and prepare their posters, as well as working on my own project for both Hospital Medicine’s and DOM’s Research Day.
I’m grateful to the Division for allowing me the opportunity to pursue my own qualitative research interests as well as supporting the faculty. I am working with several folks on a scoping review about unintentional cannabis exposures and preparing to lead a qualitative study of the impacts of sudden urban hospital closures on healthcare providers at nearby facilities.
What do you like to do for fun outside of work?
I love nature and being in nature, so I take a lot of walks and hikes (I highly recommend the site atlnature.com for finding new parks and trails to explore in the city). I am an extremely slow but dogged distance runner, so if you drive by me chugging along, feel free to stop and wave—I will have time to chat! I read a lot of fiction, mostly fantasy and creative science nonfiction, with the excuse that reading good writing helps you be a good writer, too.
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