Hello, my fellow Medical Affairs Colleagues!
Welcome to another edition of The MSL Journal! This one is jam-packed with valuable information and I am so glad that you’re back to read on as our community continues to contribute such worthy topics! In particular, this edition is focused on how MSLs and managers can up their game, demonstrating immense value and strategic focus to their organizations!
Medical Affairs has evolved from a traditional medical support role of past decades to a true stand-alone entity with a strategic business plan and much more granular detail surrounding how this group drives medical education, support, and needs both internally and externally, keeping the patient central to their efforts. This evolution has happened over many years of diligent focus to fiercely bring value through partnerships, programs, leading projects, and being of service for key medical areas. What it has transcended to today is much more than we could have imagined, as we now see multiple layers of medical roles from Medical Operations and Medical Excellence to Medical Trainers and additional layers of medical managers. In the advent of this evolution, it’s much like the caterpillar transitioning from cocoon to butterfly as we see how the Medical Affairs staff are so valued by organizations. This is observed not only in the creation of new roles but also in the expansion of the Medical Affairs organizations across the industry, as leadership recognizes the need to invest in larger teams and deliver greater value back to patients. We also note, through surveys MSL Society and others have conducted, that providers trust Medical Affairs staff and often prefer to spend time with them over commercial team members. I have no doubt that Medical Affairs as a strong division is now seen just as essential as other traditional divisions from Marketing to R&D and beyond.
In keeping with this theme of evolution, the array of articles in this edition were selected to bring novel ideas, tips, and useful advice to a new normal as we move forward in the current pandemic toward a hybrid virtual and face to a face engagement model, seeking the use of more technology in how we deliver value and analysis of our efforts as well as further developing our capabilities. I hope everyone has fastened their seatbelts because the pace we are experiencing in our current roles is also part of the new normal and it’s more important now than ever to focus on prioritization of resources, particularly the time we invest in activities each day and to manage and balance our personal needs, safeguarding what we all must value most – ourselves and family! Keep your focus, stay strategic and maintain balance in these times of change and you will reach for the next level to truly up to your game!
Until our next edition, happy reading!
Editor:
Cherie Hyder, PharmD, MSL-BC
Cherie Hyder is Medical Excellence and Operations Lead in Medical Affairs at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals where she recently supported a virtual launch of Nurtec ODT for acute migraine. She has been involved in drug development for more than 30 years, working at FDA in CDER and pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Lilly, Novartis, Solvay, and Avanir, among others. At University of Missouri, she received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree with the intention to devote her career to pharmaceutical research. She has multiple adjunct faculty appointments and enjoys teaching opportunities
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