Dear Medical Science Liaison

Dear Medical Science Liaison:

I once said that I will speak on MSL issues as long as there is something worthwhile for me to talk about. In retrospect, I was wrong.

I should speak on MSL issues as long as I care deeply about those issues, because what I see as “worthwhile” or “not worthwhile” are judgments. Judgments are subjective and personal, and are often myopic.

So I am writing this because it is something I have wanted to write for a long time, in fact, shortly after I started MSL Institute. And I must write this now, because I still care.

I’m writing this letter for those of you who believe in the idea and the ideals of the MSL profession. I’m writing especially for those of you who are called to the MSL profession. I hope this letter can be a worthwhile companion throughout your journey as a medical science liaison. I hope this letter offers you encouragement when you feel discouraged, clarity when you feel confused, and serves as a steadying hand when you feel uncertain.

You are working in a profession that at once exemplifies an ideal and the delicate balance of what we can call “conscious capitalism”. The ideal of the MSL profession is to create opportunities and possibilities between the best of industry and the best of healthcare practice for its ultimate benefactors: the patients. Patients aren’t faceless third parties. Patients are the people you and I will become one day, should we live long enough or old enough. The balance of conscious capitalism is delicate when the resources supporting this ideal is attached to an expectation of a return on those resources, a return on investment of all classes of capital. Conscious capitalism is very personal because a person is the origin of its consciousness.

Those who enter the MSL profession need to carefully consider why they have chosen to enter this profession. Indeed this job is interesting, its moniker mysterious, and the compensation enticing. Many who enter this profession have already devoted years of their lives gaining education and experience that may equip them when competing for the job.

In a way, the years devoted could give MSL aspirants the time needed to carefully consider this profession, but I have found that this may not always be the case. People can enter jobs haphazardly; they can pick a career based only on the glamorous exterior and hope that the compensation can ease some of the challenges they may face.

But the MSL profession should be more than a stepping stone, a job, or even a career. What if MSLs enter this profession as a calling? What can be accomplished by those who were called to this profession, believe in what the profession offers to all the stakeholders in healthcare, and clearly see their own hand in the best that the profession can offer? How would the profession evolve? And what kind of discussions would we be having if this were the case?

What does it mean to be a medical science liaison?

This is an answer that you must give to yourself. It’s the core of your professional identity as a medical science liaison profession, and the origin of your perception of job satisfaction relating to the MSL profession.

Answering this question can be tricky. The profession itself acts as a connective tissue between major organs of the life science organization: you know it’s important and that it helps you move, and you don’t pay much attention to it until something goes wrong and you can no longer move or move without pain.

You can answer this question using the tasks that you perform, but this only gives you pieces of a mosaic.

Ultimately you have to give yourself the whole picture – the raison d’etre – the purpose you individually serve as a medical science liaison that cannot be fulfilled by someone else who is also a medical science liaison. It is your unique touch to the your work that makes you special as a medical science liaison, the way you performed your tasks. It is a worthwhile exercise to commit to finding out your personal “imprint” or “brand” as a medical science liaison, because this comes from that part of you that can be called your “genius”.

I believe in you.

Written on January 3, 2011.