Do you aspire to be a Medical Science Liaison? Do you want to know what degrees are needed to become an MSL? You found the right article!
Medical Science Liaisons are the ones who build relationships with different key opinion leaders (KOLs) and work for pharmaceutical companies. They typically come from hospitals, research, are clinicians, and ensure that drugs and medical products are being used the right way. They also work as advisors and experts to the pharmaceutical companies.
They play a significant role in the medical field, and with that being said, before you become a Medical Science Liaison, there are certain educational and degree requirements you need to have first.
What degrees do you need to have to be an MSL?
All Medical Science Liaisons usually have either scientific and or some type of clinical training. They also have several doctorate degrees in life/physical sciences. If you want to be an MSL, you need to have at least one of the following degrees- PharmD (pharmacist), Ph.D., or MD (physician). According to the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA), 55% of MSLs are PharmDs. It is a very competitive field to get into. What has become a standard in the last few years is that many MSLs are pursuing a Board Certification in Medical Affairs. Currently, the only recognized and accredited Board Certification for MSLs is the Board Certified Medical Affairs Specialist (BCMAS) program offered by the ACMA.
Aside from MSLs, people with PharmDs, MDs, and PhDs can also work as:
- Medical Information Specialist
Most PharmDs start out being a Medical Information Specialist first. As Medical Information specialists, their leading role is to provide support for pharmaceutical companies. Their tasks include answering questions from institutions, healthcare providers, and payors using different ways of communication such as written, video, and verbal. MIS also conducts a quality assurance review for standard response documents/SRDs.
- Medical Director
Medical directors are the ones who manage and direct LCM (life cycle management) – focused Medical Affairs activities. They are the ones who define the LCM strategy, ensure compliant execution of global medical affairs activities and excellence in standards and practices, and set annual goals. Medical directors also work with patient advocacy, medical affairs operations, medical research, marketing, MSLs, US Medical Teams, and organizations with global medical functions. On top of these tasks, they are in charge of developing a thorough study of the disease state landscape that they focus on inside their organization.
- Medical Writer
The main task of people who work in this role is to write and develop medical content about a specific disease state. Medical Writers are also responsible for curating resources like clinical monographs, advisory board content, internal training materials, and more. Aside from resources, they are also expected to gather and build complex scientific data for people working in therapeutic fields.
- Chief Medical Officer
You will need to have an MD degree with board certification to be a CMO. CMO’s main task is to manage and guide the process of plans and strategies inside medical affairs organizations. They also monitor the analysis and interpretation of clinical trial data. In addition, they are responsible for orchestrating the clinical elements of regulatory strategies and communicating with the Health Authorities, academic thought leaders, medical stakeholders, investigators, and cooperative groups.
- Medical Affairs Operations Professionals
Managing budgets and timelines are the main tasks of Medical Affairs Operations Professionals. Precisely, they control the funding for Medical affairs operations, manage the budget for travel, medical congresses, investigator-initiated studies (IIS), and advisory boards. They are also in charge of managing the medical affairs’ CRM tools or the KOL profiling system tools and templates and supporting the needs of the Strategy & Research program timelines.
- Digital Medical Affairs Professional
Their title speaks of what they do. Digital Medical Affairs Professional focuses on developing and enhancing the digital functions of medical affairs, allowing them to produce strategic insights. They also help in developing the medical affairs team.
- Medical Affairs Excellence Leader
Medical Affairs Excellence Leaders focus on implementing critical launch initiatives resource management and strategic planning. They help ensure that everything goes well with the execution of the Medical Affairs Strategic Plan and that everything is aligned for the stakeholders. Their tasks revolve around providing a solution plan and managing several initiatives within the medical affairs, Stakeholder Engagement, Data Dissemination, Insights Management, and Training Excellence. They are also involved with project and process management.
- Vice President of Medical Affairs
The Vice President of Medical Affairs is in charge of the Medical Affairs Team’s development. The main tasks are to improve the company goals and protocols by translating competitive information, clinical experience, and patient reviews. In addition, they work hard to expand and improve the overall system of the Medical Affairs Team by leading all of the activities within the medical affairs. They also show communication with the key external stakeholders and the Advisory Board’s leadership while managing patient engagement and medical strategies development.
- Director of Medical Affairs
Together with other work professionals, the Director of Medical Affairs works to develop a thorough understanding of the local healthcare region between payors, health systems, and other area key influencers. Another thing that they do is that they contribute to local, national, or global medical strategies. Their main goal is to improve patient outcomes and improve customer experience, and they do this by seeking opportunities that will lead to the advancement of healthcare delivery to patients.
- Publication Manager
Publication Managers are the ones who monitor product publications and peer-reviewed publication activities at the asset level. In addition, they are in charge of gathering data dissemination and strategic publication plans with the top goal of inputting systematized and high-quality publication ideas about the overall scientific communication plans and techniques and the medical rules used inside the organization.
- Health Economics Outcomes Research Liaison
The main task of the Health Economics Outcomes Research Liaison is to build and keep a harmonious relationship among the HEOR thought leaders, RWE researchers, Data Scientists, and Population Health decision-makers inside the prioritized national and Regional Payor accounts and Health Systems. Like MSLs, they work on relationship maintenance and building, but they also differ because HEORLs work on single therapeutic areas.
- Patient Advocacy Professional
They are considered to be the voices and representatives of the patient side. Their main task is to connect the organization to external stakeholders. They work with Patient Advocacy Professionals, Medical Affairs, Research and Development, Regulatory, Access, and Commercial for the patients. On top of that, they also work on developing and leading global advocacy while keeping the strategic alliances with national and international stakeholders.
- Drug Safety/Pharmacovigilance Professional
People who work in Drug Safety focus on safety and protection. They assist with preparing regulatory filings like PSUR, PADER, NDA, and IND. They also monitor the signal detection in clinical datasets to reveal safety signals and improve the patients’ protection while scanning issues immediately as they arise.
The medical industry is broad, and there are lots of opportunities that you can try for as long as you are also ready to provide certain degrees and requirements.
