Job DescriptionThe VP, Medical Services provides scientific and strategic direction for all pharmaceutical advertising/promotional 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 promotional communications for healthcare professional (HCP) and patient audiences. The VP, Medical Services 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 medical 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. Though functional leadership, the VP, Medical Services ensures the professional development of assigned Medical Services personnel, including employee recruitment, mentorship, and retention. VP, Medical Services also performs all duties and responsibilities of the Medical Director role, as needed (e.g., for assigned accounts).
Job DutiesLeadership
- Ensure adherence to all internal processes and procedures with regard to workflow and development of deliverables
- Take a proactive approach to problem-solving to assist in implementation and delivery of tactics according to predetermined timelines and budgets
- Partner with Project Management to anticipate resourcing needs and establish a plan to ensure all upcoming work is appropriately resourced.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry developments as well as medical scientific information across relevant therapeutic areas, products, and competitors through monitoring of relevant literature and news feeds; communicate to the internal client teams and potentially external client teams
- Ensure the professional development and training of assigned Medical Services personnel, including employee recruitment, mentorship, and retention
- Work with internal team members to ensure they are striving toward meeting company goals and objectives and adhering to corporate values
Medical Services
- Lead medical contributions and communications related to client and product content development across all clients and new business initiatives
- Conceptualize innovative initiatives to support promotional and product strategy while maintaining scientific integrity
- Take responsibility for tactical communication activities for all assigned therapeutic areas and products
- Oversee and directly develop clinical content, including hands-on writing and annotation of content, for print and digital advertising campaigns, disease state and branded presentations, advisory boards, speaker programs, webcasts, videos, websites, and other multimedia initiatives
- Effectively 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, storytelling, and strategy
- Present and appropriately defend content and strategy to client review committees for approval and apply resulting comments while maintaining the integrity and purpose of the material
- Generate strategically sound project ideas and maintain a proactive approach on initiatives for existing and prospective clients
- Direct and support internal and external Medical Directors and Medical Writers on assigned projects
- Work in conjunction with Account Services and Project Management to develop logical and attainable timelines for project completion
- Attend professional meetings and congresses to remain abreast of the most up-to-date therapeutic area and competitive landscape information
- Attend and facilitate advisory board meetings with clinical experts; note, synthesize, and interpret discussions for conversion into actionable strategy and tactics
- Work with Account Services in conducting healthcare professional and patient interviews as part of market research and augment dialogue by delving into medical issues to more clearly define attitudes and behaviors
Internal and External Relationships
- Work with and support Medical Strategy to represent Synchrony at internal functions requiring expert input and support strategy and scientific/medical components of annual planning and new-business development initiatives
- Work with and support Creative Strategy to develop and support medical education events and activities (e.g., educational webinars, symposia, videos)
- Be a positive force for enhancing the work culture, consensus-building, and internal communications
- Build effective working relationships with internal team members across functional departments
- Foster and develop collaboration among departments, internal groups, and individuals to ensure innovative and collaborative solutions to client needs
- Establish, foster, enrich, and maintain strong relationships with clients and clinical experts; inspire client confidence
- Collaborate with senior management and internal and external personnel from all disciplines regarding communication strategies for new business opportunities and existing work
- Communicate and collaborate with clinical experts on programs to meet strategic objectives through relationship building, advocacy development, and use of scientific expertise
Key Competencies - High level of integrity, ethics, confidentiality, and accountability
- Sound strategic and analytical thinking, planning, prioritization, and execution skills
- Well-developed professional communication skills, including written and interpersonal
- Exceptional organizational skills with adeptness at multitasking
- Ability to coordinate and execute multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment to serve many therapeutic teams and meet project goals
- Flexibility and adaptability to change; ability to work under time constraints
- Effective attention to detail and high degree of scientific and medical accuracy
- Effective cross-functional leadership skills
- Ability to oversee and manage priorities and workflow to ensure high-quality project execution according to project timelines and budgets
- Ability to provide direction and developmental support to direct reports in preparation for future positions; provide challenging and stretching assignments; push tasks down to empower others; share ownership and visibility
- Well-defined sense of diplomacy, including solid negotiation, conflict resolution, and people management skills
- Ability to manage outcomes to win-win resolution
- Ability to identify key issues and to creatively and strategically overcome challenges or obstacles
- Ability to interact effectively in a team environment
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook)
- Strong presentation and persuasion skills
- o Develops a clear point of view and tell a meaningful story
- o Demonstrates effectiveness in a variety of settings and group sizes with clients, peers, subordinates, and management
- o Confidently expresses both data/facts and more controversial topics
- o Commands attention and can manage group dynamics
QualificationsRequirements- PhD, PharmD, or MD
- Minimum of 7 years in direct content development role in some combination of advertising, marketing communications, and medical communications with substantial experience leading at least 4 of the following activities: advertising campaigns, pharmaceutical product launches, promotional education activities, disease education campaigns, promotional medical/marketing initiatives, digital and interactive programs, advisory boards, key clinical expert identification and development
- Specific industry or therapeutic expertise
Working Conditions- Ability to travel as client needs require
- Ability to commit to extra and/or nontraditional hours as client needs require
Additional Information 
