Key skills for success in Medical Affairs today…
The most important skill for success in Medical Affairs is to understand business.
This means to truly understand how business works, and to understand how Medical Affairs fits into a company’s business model. Essentially this means understanding how all functions within an organisation work together to deliver value.Success in business is not about chasing the dollar or closing the sale, it’s about understanding what’s important to customers and then providing it.
It’s about providing value.
Business acumen means understanding all the functional areas and how they come together to deliver this value. For Medical Affairs it means understanding Clinical Research, Regulatory, Market Access, Sales and Marketing, HR, Finance, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and more… ie all the functions required to get the product from R&D, through the regulatory and reimbursement systems, and then from the manufacturing site, via the warehouse to the bedside.
Business acumen involves strategic thinking and knowing all about the specific models and frameworks so that scenarios can be analysed and discussed.
So, for success, my advice for Medical Affairs professionals is to learn all about business. Think about doing an MBA because it’s worthwhile. It teaches you the frameworks from which you can have the conversations.
And there’s 2 things that you can do right now to understand more about business. The first is to sign up to the Harvard Business Review, and the second is to network across your companies and ask “What’s happening in your world, and why is that important?”
For success it’s also important to know the science.
Success comes from having a deep understanding of the scientific data both from the scientific perspective and from the commercial perspective. It means knowing how your products work, how your competitor’s products work, knowing the clinical data, knowing about all the other therapeutics and medical devices used to manage and treat the patient. It’s about taking a holistic approach.
In staying ahead of all the scientific developments a key skill is to have Mental Agility – that is, being able to pick up new information quickly, understand it, to see how it relates to different areas, to see the linkages. It’s about being able to translate complex clinical data into clear messages for a range of audiences. And this is an important point – for success there’s a lot more than being the company subject matter expert – it’s about understanding the information needs of everyone around you and then being able to communicate the science in a manner that they see as value-adding.
So, for career advice – spend the time learning, and stay learning throughout your career.
How to align your scientific knowledge with business objectives…
Having entered industry from a scientific background the question is often raised: “How can I integrate my scientific expertise with the company’s business strategies and objectives?”
The first stage is to understand and embrace business, and to understand how business is important in delivering value to patients. Business is the whole system of getting the products from R&D to the patient. It involves all functions working together to deliver “the right products to the right patients at the right time – from R&D to the bedside”.
Medical Affairs professionals have the scientific expertise, understand the clinical evidence and are having discussions with KOLs. However that is only part of the equation that delivers products to patients. The whole system needs to be working together, and when Medical Affairs understand the mechanics of this ‘business system’ they can deliver value at every stage (from trial design, regulatory/reimbursement input, market insights, the communication of key messages, through to resolving supply chain issues and more…).
In short, by understanding business, and the objectives and the strategies there will be better discussions and better outcomes.
So, in embracing ‘business’ understand the context of business. It’s exciting, it’s creative. There are so many twists and turns that happen every day. Market dynamics change. Competitors come and go. The regulatory environment can change very quickly. Customer preferences change. There are people issues, product issues, opportunities and challenges.
And being effective means that you are on top of all these and you have the skills to manage the complexity and at the same time deliver value to your customers – because that’s what it’s all about….delivering value.
Here’s a few ways to enhance your business acumen – read a lot, sign up to HBR, do an MBA, network across your business, know about all the emerging trends and issues regarding healthcare policy, have conversations about the future and what’s needed and why.
There are other skills which are essential for success.
One is always being curious, to be open to learning new ideas and new skills, and be open to trying new approaches. And that’s having a Growth Mindset. So when you confront a situation your response isn’t “I can’t do that”, it’s “I can’t do that yet”.And that one word is very powerful – ‘yet’. It means that you’ll get there – not just yet. It’s about learning, adapting, being flexible, taking feedback and always improving.
Another skill is to be Emotionally Intelligent. Success is all about effectively working with other people, and that’s what emotional intelligence is all about. It’s not about having a high IQ, it’s about having a high EQ. And excelling in each of the 5 dimensions – self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation and social skill.
Now when we look into the future – what skills are required for success…
Firstly, the future will be a lot more complicated. This is because there’s going to be a lot more science to understand. This science will be coming from a range of different areas – there will be the clinical trial data from the randomized trials, there will be Real World Evidence, and there will also be Real Time Evidence – that’s the data coming in from a range of wearable devices, all being captured in real-time. And advances in the fields of genomics, immunotherapy, oncology, and precision medicine are delivering more complex data than ever before.
So a key skill for the future will be knowing how to gain insights from this data – and this is where understanding data analytics, digital health, and artificial intelligence become key skills.
Business will also become more complicated. There will be new, agile start-ups and they will be challenging the major companies. So, again, understanding the dynamics of business will be essential.
I also see that the main skill for success in Medical Affairs, in the future, will be the ability to influence and shape healthcare policy.
This is because it’s policy that determines whether patients receive treatments or whether they don’t. If they don’t, then the policy needs to be changed. And this can be done by taking all the data, all the evidence, and convincing policy makers to make changes.
And it’s Medical Affairs who know the data and who can work to shape policy. In this regard we’ll be seeing more hybrid roles where Medical Affairs will be working on policy initiatives with their Market Access/Government/External Affairs colleagues.
Advice for someone early in their Medical Affairs career…
Firstly, take every opportunity to learn. Be curious and be curious throughout your career. Learn from your own studies and learn from others. Ask questions, understand what’s important to people…and why it’s important.
Learn new skills and become proficient. For example, of everyone you know, be the best at ChatGPT and other AI technologies – because this is our new world. Learn about data analytics, about coding, about how algorithms work and everything digital.
Further, seek out opportunities to work on different cross functional projects and different therapeutic areas. Learn all about Clinical Research, Regulatory, Market Access, Sales and Marketing.
And build your networks – understand what other people are talking about. Go to conferences, webinars, join associations like MAPA and ARCS, and be active on LinkedIn.
Preparing for leadership roles…
Firstly, leadership happens at all levels – you can be a leader in your very first job, or after 30 years and sitting on the global leadership team. Leadership means ‘to guide, to show the way’ – and in Medical Affairs you can be a leader by knowing the science, knowing the business and knowing how to deliver value - whether it’s at the project level or the global level.
Leaders think and act at the enterprise level, rather than only the functional level. They are functional experts in that they are very good at what they do, and they also understand how what they do affects other parts of the business. They are thinking outside their core area and are not siloed into a particular function. Their contributions are therefore more valuable because their insight and their contributions impact many more people.
So for career advice, think and act at the enterprise level, not only the functional level, and in doing this work closely with other departments such as Commercial, Market Access, External Affairs.
And always stay curious. Because curiosity will drive the innovation that will deliver improved outcomes..and that’s what leaders do.