Senior Editorial Associate, American Society of Nephrology
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Summarize yourself and professional experience in a few sentences (where you’re from, course of study, where you currently work, job title).
I received my bachelor’s degree from James Madison University, where I double majored in Technical Communications and Media Arts. After graduating in December of 2020, I began working at the American Society of Nephrology, located in Washington, DC. In this organization, I assist the Managing Editors of three journals: JASN, CJASN, and Kidney360.
Please describe the main function of your organization and your current responsibilities.
The American Society of Nephrology strives to create a world without kidney disease. In my role as Senior Editorial Associate, I primarily handle the submission process, checking-in manuscripts, assigning them to editors, and helping authors with any questions they may have. I also manage the social media presence of the three journals and our organization’s news magazine (find us on Twitter/X: @JASN_News, @CJASN, @ASNKidney360, and @KidneyNews).
How did you get into scholarly communications, and what was your path to your current role?
During my time at James Madison University, I served on the Editorial Board for the university’s undergraduate research journal. This introduced me to the world of scholarly publishing, which I quickly fell in love with. At my university, I was able to experience many different areas of the publication and peer review processes, which was invaluable to my professional development. Before I graduated, I served as Managing Editor of the journal (via Zoom because of the pandemic), helping underclassmen become accustomed to the journal processes.
What tools, websites, and organizations do you find most valuable for your career development?
I have found webinars very useful in understanding the field of scholarly publishing more. I often attend webinars offered by SSP, CSE, and ISMTE, and enjoy the wide variety of topics covered by these organizations. Last year, I began volunteering with the CSE Marketing Committee, which has been a great way to meet more people in the industry. I highly recommend getting involved with an organization to early-career professionals!
What are some of the surprises/obstacles that you’ve encountered during your career?
Since I began working at my organization, we switched to a new manuscript submission system. These past two years have shown me how much planning and organization goes into every step of the editorial process. It has been a great lesson in understanding how even small details can impact if an author will submit a manuscript or how easily an editor can make a decision.
