With the pharmaceutical industry becoming more and more heavily competitive, knowing how to conduct an insightful and multidimensional assessment of your Medical Science Liaison (MSL) team to identify gaps and hire the right MSLs to not only accelerate a corporate competitive advantage, but also to cultivate the natural diversity of a proper team for internal peer-to-peer development and external stakeholder rapport is more critical than ever.  

With an extensive and influential career in Medical Affairs (MA) at Sanofi Pasteur spanning more than two decades starting in the field and now the current Senior Director of the Field Medical Team in the Vaccines therapeutic unit at Sanofi Pasteur, Christina Tankersley, PharmD has mastered the know-how of building, training, and maturing a diverse, multidisciplinary MSL team. She joins Dr. Peg Crowley-Nowick, Founder and President of Zipher Medical Affairs on this inaugural podcast of the second season of Zipher Medical Affairs Unscripted to share her invaluable experience on how to intentionally identify key diversities needed in constructing a balanced and symbiotic MSL team, and how to overcome the challenges of unifying team members across the now common virtual office settings. Dr. Crowley-Nowick also draws on Dr. Tankersley’s vast experience and innate propensity for coaching and mentoring to discuss the possible pitfalls of the industry’s current trend in condensing the onboarding experience for MSLs and potentially driving MSLs into the field prematurely and asks her to expound on her innovative approach for onboarding. Lastly, Dr. Tankersley characterizes the fundamental cornerstone of an MSL development plan and fostering actions to support that vision.