Speaker Interview

From your perspective, how has the role of Medical Affairs evolved in recent years, and why has defining and measuring impact become so critical?

Medical Affairs has evolved from a traditional support function to a strategic business partner, driven by increasing regulatory complexity, demand for real-world evidence, and the need for patient-centric approaches. We now engage across commercial, clinical, and regulatory functions from early development through lifecycle management, often leading cross-functional initiatives. This integration creates tremendous value but also complexity in attribution. Our contributions are deeply interwoven with other functions' success, making individual impact harder to isolate. Defining and measuring our impact has become critical not only to ensure proper recognition and resource allocation, but also to demonstrate our strategic value and enable data-driven decision making for future investments in Medical Affairs capabilities

 

What are the biggest challenges Medical Affairs teams face today when it comes to building meaningful KPIs and demonstrating value to leadership?

The biggest challenge is the fundamental tension between leadership's desire for financial metrics and the compliance requirements that appropriately separate Medical Affairs from commercial activities. Leadership naturally gravitates toward familiar KPIs like sales impact or patient reach, but these metrics are inappropriate for Medical Affairs and can compromise our scientific credibility and regulatory standing. Additionally, stakeholder expectations are evolving in ways that contradict traditional commercial metrics. HCPs and payers increasingly expect us to provide balanced information, including data on when products should NOT be used, as healthcare systems face growing financial pressures. If we measure success primarily through sales or patient volume, we will undermine our value and core mission.

Our challenge is building KPIs that capture our true value: improvements in disease state knowledge, HCP understanding of mechanism of action and clinical data, identification of unmet needs, quality of scientific exchange, evidence generation through publications and real-world studies, and ultimately, appropriate patient selection that improves outcomes. These metrics are harder to quantify and require longer timeframes to demonstrate impact, but they reflect the genuine strategic value Medical Affairs brings to both the organization and the healthcare system.

 

In your view, what will “best-in-class” Medical Affairs impact measurement look like in the next 5–10 years?

The future of Medical Affairs measurement will integrate internal and external benchmarks in ways we're just beginning to explore.

Internally, we'll embed real-world applicable endpoints directly into clinical trials, moving the trial’s focus from basic regulatory approval to true clinical utility and optimal positioning on the molecule within treatment paradigms. This will include health economic outcomes, comparative effectiveness data, and patient-reported outcomes that actually matter in practice.

Externally, we'll track longitudinal HCP knowledge evolution—measuring how understanding of disease states and mechanisms of action deepens over time across different specialties. We'll also monitor patient outcomes that connect to our activities, like improved glycemic control rates at health systems or reduced hospitalization rates. In addition, we'll track sentiment shifts after major data releases. How we move HCP’s thoughts from skepticism to acceptance; and measure share of voice across social media, healthcare news, and medical literature. AI-powered tools will help us understand not just if people are talking about our data, but how they're using it to change clinical practice.

 

What are you most looking forward to at the Measuring Impact in Medical Affairs Summit this February?

I'm genuinely excited about connecting with Medical Affairs leaders who are tackling the same challenges we all face—how do we prove our value while maintaining our scientific integrity? I want to learn how other teams are measuring real patient impact, not just activity metrics, and hear what innovative approaches are actually working in practice. I'm particularly interested in how organizations are tracking patient outcomes and getting leadership buy-in for more sophisticated measurement approaches. I look forward to sharing some of our own experiences—both successes and challenges. These conversations always spark new ideas about revolutionizing how we demonstrate that Medical Affairs drives meaningful outcomes for patients and serves as a strategic partner in improving healthcare.

 

Finally, could you share a one-line teaser of the key insights you’ll be presenting during your session?

I'll share how we're using longitudinal insight analysis to track knowledge evolution and prove that Medical Affairs doesn't just educate - we measurably transform clinical understanding over time