Dear Colleagues:
It was great seeing many of you at the recent annual U.S. conference held in Cambridge, MA. This year’s conference was attended by over 100 Medical Science Liaison professionals, managers, and other key stakeholders from 10 countries. Over the last two months, the MSL Society has been hard at work behind the scenes making the final preparation to launch the industry’s first and only professional board certification for the professional Medical Science Liaison. This new and exciting initiative will launch on soon with registration opening for all eligible candidates to complete their application online. The exam is multiple choice and covers the cognitive domains necessary for competency as a Medical Science Liaison. More information will be available soon on our website: www.themsls.org
Regulations from the US Food and Drug Administration continue to become more stringent. Given the evolving regulatory landscape that guides the activities of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies, the MSL Society will be launching a series of new professional position statements intended to serve two purposes:
- Guide the conduct of the Medical Science Liaison and prevent undue influence by commercial interests, sales compensation, etc.
- Self regulate the profession by creating proactive guidance statements about key issues relevant to the professional Medical Science Liaison such as off label promotion, scientific information dissemination, and more.
These position papers will be available to all MSL Society members and authored by an expert panel of subject matter experts consisting of frontline Medical Science Liaisons, middle managers, Executive Leaderships, and Regulatory/Legal colleagues. It is our goal that these documents will serve as instrumental tools in each Medical Science Liaison’s daily practice within their organization. The first position paper will be published in the January 2016 issue of THE MSL: The Journal of the Medical Science Liaison Society.
Finally, the MSL Society is launching a new professional advancement and recognition program in early 2016: The MSL Fellows Program resulting in the designation FMSL. This terminal designation is only awarded to those in profession that have not only met certain academic and professional experience criteria, but more importantly have made documented and ongoing contributions to the Medical Science Liaison profession outside of their traditional professional responsibilities. More details on this exciting program will be launched on the MSL Society website shortly after the first of the year.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the MSL Society and your commitment to advancing our profession through peer reviewed publications, board certification, and professional advancement through the new Fellows program.
Sincerely,
Dr. Samuel Dyer
Chairman of the Board
Medical Science Liaison Society
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