PROFILE
I grew up in sunny Lisbon, where I completed my undergraduate studies in Applied Chemistry at the New University of Lisbon. Early on, I noticed the scarcity of scientific information and technical textbooks of quality written/translated in European Portuguese at university level. I started writing summaries of key scientific articles and book chapters in Portuguese, as study aids, which I often shared with my classmates who had more difficulty understanding the English language. While diving into the content of these texts I enjoyed comparing the idiosyncrasies of both languages and many times I wondered how a language influences our way of thinking and of communicating science. Whereas the scientific texts in English were simple and straightforward, technical writing in Portuguese was complex, with an elaborate vocabulary.
Following this first experience with translating scientific texts, I relocated to Houston, in Texas, where I lived for almost 10 years, to pursue my doctoral studies in Human Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, where I had the opportunity to meet people from various countries. This was my first contact with “Spanglish”, and I found it most admirable that all relevant medical information to the general public (patient information, medical education websites) was available in Spanish; there was a real effort to write in an accessible and understandable manner. This Plain English movement extended to other fields, allowing the lay person and/or foreigner to understand, without major difficulties, contracts, legal documents, financial jargon, or tax information. From then on, I longed for a Plain Portuguese revolution!
My graduate school years were extremely rich, both linguistically and culturally. I faced cultural barriers and witnessed multiple “lost in translation” incidents, most of them funny and harmless. My passion for reading and obsession for rigor in scientific writing naturally led me to a career in biomedical communications, where I keep learning every day: about science, about language, about culture, and about human nature.
Patricia Fonseca
QUALIFICATIONS
Technical/scientific translator since 2004
Biomedical communications professional since 2012 – Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP™)
Postgraduate Certificate in Translation Studies by the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA
PhD in Human Molecular Genetics by Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
BSc in Applied Chemistry, major in Biotechnology, by the NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
VOLUNTEERING
American Medical Writers Association
Member of the 2021 AMWA Annual Conference Program Committee
Program Director/President-Elect of the New England Chapter for 2021–2022
President of the New England Chapter for 2022–2023
International Society for Medical Publications Professionals
Member of the Self-Study Task Force 2020-2021 for the identification and evaluation of educational activities for recertification purposes
American Translators Association
Member of the S&T Division Podcasting Team
