What's it like being a medical science liaison? Let us tell you. Medical science liaisons (MSLs) are responsible for the legitimate exchange
of medical and scientific information, education and research initiatives
with the medical community. It’s a big undertaking, but with this level of
responsibility comes the opportunity to push boundaries and transform
healthcare.
The role is all about managing relationships, gathering insights and
remaining clued up about the latest scientific research and clinical data
throughout the product lifecycle of a drug or device.
You might already know which
qualifications will you need as a medical science liaison, but what can you expect from the role itself?
Opportunities to progress your career
An MSL is known for their depth of expert knowledge, meaning that it’s a
job where you never stop learning.
Working in a learning environment ensures there are many opportunities to
progress your career. If you prove yourself to be competent within the
medical field, you could become a
senior medical science liaison
like Raff, who explains that his work directly feeds into IQVIA’s mission
to develop better patient care.
One element of Raff’s job is understanding where treatment gaps are and
relaying this back to key opinion leaders (KOLs) and healthcare
professionals (HCPs), but there’s so much more to the role. As you
progress, your managers will encourage you to develop and deliver
scientific training courses to other staff members and international
distributors, including
medical sales reps. This experience will set you up for a promotion to medical science liaison manager further
down the line, and for those who are truly ambitious, a medical director
role will be within reach if you’re willing to put the hard work in.
The chance to work within different markets and therapies
It was as early as the 1960s that the pharmaceutical industry recognised a
need for trained professionals who could communicate between KOLs and
internal stakeholders, offering clarity in the complex system that is
healthcare.
As the healthcare market advanced, it wasn’t long before MSLs saw their
role diversifying, and they had the chance to work within biotechnology,
the medical device market and other related healthcare fields. This means
that anyone choosing this field of work truly has the opportunity to carve
out the career they envision for themselves.
Not only that, but you also have the option of working in oncology,
genecology, gastroenterology, hepatology, endocrinology and many more
therapies. And as these new markets and therapies became viable career
paths for MSLs, they soon were regarded as specialists in their areas and
took on a more stimulating, consultative role.
The opportunity to travel
If you choose to work for a global company, the chances are they’ll have
clients in lots of exciting locations and offer you the chance to travel to
meet them face-to-face on occasion. However, even if your company is based
just in one country, visiting sites is a big part of the job, so you’ll
still get to travel around and put your relationship building into
practice.
For example, a client may be preparing for the launch of a new product. It
will be your job to communicate scientific data, provide strategic input to
the company’s strategy and offer any other guidance where it’s needed.
That’s not to say you’ll always be on the move. Keeping on top of the
latest developments requires a high level of desk research. Not only that,
but the current pandemic has sparked a new hybrid working model where many
professionals are now enjoying the benefits of working from home some days.
So depending on the company you work for, you could find yourself with a
productive balance of working remotely, collaborating with teams in the
office, and meeting with other professionals on-site.
Help us power healthcare with connected intelligence
At IQVIA, we are committed to getting the right treatments to patients,
faster. How? We invest in our people and their medical science liaison career paths.
With a growing network of colleagues working across more than 30
countries, we have unparalleled capabilities and technologies, data, and
global healthcare expertise right at our fingertips.
If you want to be a part of our shared goal of improving human health,
browse our latest
medical science liaison jobs.
