You're halfway through a degree or deep into a career you're not sure you'll stay in and the loudest fear isn't about what's next. It's that everything you've already invested might be wasted. Keagan Hadley finished an entire OT doctorate he wasn't sure he'd use and it was the very thing that gave him room to build a completely different career.

Keagan Hadley is a regulatory medical writer for a large biotech company. He holds a doctorate in occupational therapy and has spent over a decade in the biotech and pharmaceutical space.

We Explore

• How geographic limitation can become a catalyst for unconventional experience
• Why the financial variable in career decisions deserves more honesty in the helping professions
• How your cognitive wiring reveals itself early and what to do when it doesn't match the clinical path
• Why "regulatory medical writer" misrepresents the actual work of the role
• How credibility gets built in an industry where your healthcare credential doesn't automatically count

Chapters

00:00 Meet Keagan Hadley - regulatory medical writer and OT

03:22 How a small-town CRO in North Dakota opened the door to biotech

08:50 $96K in student loans and the decision to finish anyway

14:14 The lecture that reframed scale and patient impact

19:25 Remote work, flexibility, and family life in biotech

24:48 Starting before you feel ready and selling yourself as a novice

35:56 Why recruiters matter more than applications in this field

45:10 Wrangling physicians who disagree

47:28 AI and regulatory writing

57:25 Why clinicians won't say the money part out loud

Connect with Keagan

• LinkedIn: Keagan Hadley
• Newsletter: https://cliniciansguide.substack.com/
• What Regulatory Writers Actually Make - https://thecliniciansguide.myflodesk.com/uegisjcpq9
• 6-Month Roadmap to Becoming a Regulatory Medical Writer - https://thecliniciansguide.myflodesk.com/nx48w16db8

Career Cliniq Resources

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