What Is Medical Affairs?

Medical affairs is one of the largest functional areas within the pharmaceuticals and consumer health sector. Medical Affairs is one of the most popular areas for pharmacists and doctors to transition into the pharmaceutical industry. The role is becoming more popular as pharmaceutical companies look for alternative ways to engage health care professionals (HCPs) and patients.

Medical affairs professionals are the subject matter expert of a disease area or product. Medical affairs professionals deal with developments in the post-marketing stage or phase 4 of a clinical trial. Medical affairs professionals can fall under various umbrellas (disease area specialist, medical advisor, scientific advisor, medical science liaison, medicines information officer and so on). It is essential medical affairs professionals stay up to date with the latest literature, news, and information to remain effective, and this is because you will be the go-to person for anyone who has questions within the business.

It is imperative for a medical affairs professional to have strong communication skills and to understand their audience, whether it is a key opinion leader AKA KOL (influential health care professional) or an internal stakeholder within the company that can progress or kill a project.

Medical affairs is a broad and diverse career choice for those with life science degrees. However, the critical skills you will need are the following

• Emotional intelligence

• Problem-solving

• Communication and presentation skills

• Commercial awareness

• Medical and strategic writing

How do you get into medical affairs?

There are many ways to skin a cat, and there is no perfect route into the role; at a later date, I will discuss various paths, including my journey, in more detail. The most common ways are to break through in a junior position, such as a graduate programme, junior scientific advisor, or medicines information. However, one size does not fit all; my advice is to gain and leverage your experience and transfer experience in the clinical field you are already in, whether within a hospital or elsewhere. All jobs will list experience as a requirement; the vital part to remember is to explain to employers that you have already gathered practical experience from what you already do.

Thanks for reading, until next time.