Friends of Hackney Library Welcome Stephanie Barnard and Deborah St James for Book Signing and Discussion on April 16

WILSON, N.C. — The Barton College Friends of Hackney Library will welcome co-authors Stephanie Roberson Barnard and Deborah St James to campus on Tuesday, April 16, for a book signing from 5:30 – 7 p.m. in Hackney Library, which will include a brief talk and Q&A at 6 p.m. Communications consultants and speakers as well as authors, Barnard and St James specialize in facilitating communication skills among science, health, and technology professionals. This event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Collaborating on projects since 1996, Barnard and St James are the co-authors of two books from Yale University Press. The most recent is “Listen. Write. Present: The Elements for Communicating Science and Technology” (2012). The book, which will be available for purchase at the event, has received high praise from a variety of reviewers.

Abraham Verghese, M.D., professor of medicine at Stanford University and acclaimed author of the novel “Cutting for Stone,” says of the book, “So often we are judged not by what we know, but by what people think we know based on our presentations and our ability to communicate. This lovely book will serve the tyro [novice] and the pro alike. It will be on my bookshelf.”  Michele Vivirito, fellow of the American Medical Writers Association, says, “With its engaging, conversational style, this little book is an important, new resource for its intended readers, who seldom receive academic training in communication skills.”

Barnard and St James are also co-authors of “Writing, Speaking, and Communication Skills for Health Professionals” (2001), which won the 2002 Will Solimene Award for Excellence in Medical Communication and the 2002 Allied Health Medical Book Award, both from the American Medical Writers Association.

As a communication consultant, Barnard has trained thousands of pharmaceutical industry professionals on how to be more effective speakers, writers, and communicators. She has written patient education literature, developed online video compliance training modules, and helped create and implement personalized communication training plans for science and technology professionals. In addition to her work in the pharmaceutical industry, Barnard has coached hundreds of health care professionals on presentation skills for FDA hearings, CFO reports, and scientific speaker programs, as well as national and international congresses. Some of her clients include AstraZeneca, Bayer Corporation, WL Gore, and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Barnard, a native of Washington, N.C., studied communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been involved in a variety of volunteer activities over the years, and she has just recently accepted an invitation to be a director for the Wilson Community College Foundation. She currently lives in Wilson.

St James is a partner in Listen Write Present LLC with offices in Wilson and Raleigh. She was formerly director of scientific communications and publication planning at Grifols and manager of editorial services at Bayer Corporation, Pharmaceutical Division in West Haven, Conn. During that time, she developed and directed the Writing and Speaking for Excellence seminars – seminars designed for physicians, pharmacists, and other health care professionals. She is a former editor of Better Health magazine and has taught English, technical, business, and medical writing at both the graduate and postgraduate levels. She is the author of “Writing and Speaking for Excellence: A Guide for Physicians and editor of Writing, Speaking, and Communication Skills for Health Professionals” and co-editor of “Empathy and the Practice of Medicine and Doctors Afield.”

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