More Than Just Information: Upskilling MSLs to Become the Trusted Source
The closing panel of the event, which I joined at short notice after two speakers dropped out. My argument: MSLs are the leaders of the future in engaging healthcare professionals, and my job leading them is servant leadership. What can I do to facilitate you?
What were the key learnings?
With global medical leaders from ViiV Healthcare and AstraZeneca, we dug into how Medical Science Liaisons become the trusted source rather than a hidden function most healthcare professionals do not even know exists.
My analogy from surgical training: the orthopaedic device rep stands at the surgeon’s side through the operation, trusted step by step. As medicines become more complex and the science harder for clinicians to stay on top of, the MSL is the perfect equivalent for prescribing decisions.
On the “haven’t MSLs always been trusted?” question: yes, but only by the small slice of top-tier opinion leaders who know they exist. The real work is equitable access. That means outreach (we went and spoke to the King’s College medical affairs Masters programme), replacing the slow no with a quick conversation about how to partner, and freeing specialist MSLs from geography, so the right expert can join any conversation in the country by video.
Also covered: digital empathy, meaning reading the room on a screen and matching the channel to the person; flipped-classroom engagement, so scarce face time is spent on meaningful conversation rather than content delivery; and pitching the science to the person’s level of understanding rather than dumping data.
