Medical Director

Job Description

The Medical Director provides scientific and strategic direction for all tactical medical communications activities for assigned therapeutic areas and products and partners with the Account Services, Creative Services, Editorial Services, and Project Management departments and clients to develop branded and unbranded medical and promotional communications for healthcare professional (HCP) and patient audiences. The Medical Director participates as a department representative at internal functions requiring scientific input, participates in strategy and scientific/medical components of new-business development activities, represents the company at client meetings at which scientific expertise is needed for the planning or acquisition of future projects, and interacts with clients, faculty, key clinical experts, and patients in support of pharmaceutical advertising/promotional initiatives.

Job Duties

Medical Services

Provide scientific direction, support, and leadership for all strategic and tactical communications activities for assigned therapeutic areas and products

Develop clinical content for branded and unbranded medical and promotional communications tactics and activities, including hands-on writing and annotation of content for HCP and patient educational material/brochures, videos, websites, and other multimedia initiativesEffectively communicate complex medical and scientific concepts in a clear, engaging, audience-appropriate manner

Ensure scientific integrity, accuracy, and clinical relevance of all materials

Support projects toward development across multiple brands

Review, analyze, and interpret current product literature and leverage information to support promotional claims

Interpret and apply clinical data; use clinical expertise to benchmark client versus competitor products

Assume final responsibility for content of assigned projects, including relevance, technical accuracy, audience appropriateness, strategy, and consistency with communications plan

Present and appropriately defend promotional materials to client review committees for approval and apply resulting comments while maintaining the integrity and objectives of the material

Maintain up-to-date knowledge of medical scientific information related to assigned therapeutic areas, products, and competitors

Generate strategically sound project ideas and maintain a proactive approach on initiatives for existing and prospective clients

Work in conjunction with Account Services and Project Management departments to develop logical and attainable timelines for project completion

Provide mentorship/guidance, support, and feedback to junior medical team members, copywriters, and freelance contract writers as needed during the content development process

Follow all internal processes and procedures with regard to workflow and development of deliverables

Attend professional meetings (live or virtual) to maintain relationships with clients and opinion leaders, and to remain abreast of up-to-date therapeutic area and competitive landscape information

Assist in designing healthcare professional and patient market research to more clearly define audience attitudes and behaviors

Keep core teams and management informed of status of ongoing projects

Internal and External Relationships

Build effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders

Build strong client relationships; inspire client confidence

Collaborate with internal and external personnel from all disciplines to ensure innovative solutions to client needs related to new business and existing work

Communicate and collaborate with faculty and key opinion leaders on programs to meet strategic objectives through relationship building and use of scientific expertise; note, synthesize, and interpret feedback and insights to drive actionable strategy and tactics

Business Development

Support new-business teams to ensure data are medically sound and teams are well informed about all medical aspects of the product

Assist in the development of new-business presentations by analyzing and synthesizing literature, pharmacologic attributes, clinical data, product profile and strategy, and market research into a strategic application for capabilities

Represent Synchrony at capabilities presentations and other new business-related meetings as a full-time, permanent resource that has had extensive relevant training and expertise

Support the execution of healthcare professional and patient interviews as part of qualitative research for new-business presentations

Help to identify potential clinical experts as advisors or research participants

Key Competencies

Sound strategic and analytical thinking, planning, prioritization, and execution skills

Ability to manage outcomes to win-win resolutions

Strong creative design, conceptual, and visual story-telling skills

Ability to effectively communicate both verbally and in writing

Solid medical writing skills

Exceptional organizational skills with adeptness at multitasking

Flexibility and adaptability to change; ability to work under time constraints

Effective attention to detail and high degree of scientific and medical accuracy

Ability to identify key issues and to creatively and strategically overcome challenges or obstacles

High level of integrity, ethics, confidentiality, and accountability

Ability to interact effectively in a team environment

Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook)

Ability to oversee, manage, and support priorities and workflow to ensure high-quality project execution according to project timelines and budgets

Strong presentation and persuasion skillsDevelops a clear point of view and tells a meaningful "story"

Demonstrates effectiveness in a variety of settings and group sizes with clients, peers, subordinates, and management

Confidently expresses both data/facts and more controversial topics

Commands attention and can manage group dynamics