Transforming Medical Communications

Creating valuable medical content is only half the battle. The real challenge? Making sure it actually reaches and impacts HCPs who need it most. In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, Wesley Portegies is joined by Janna Crabb, Director of Digital Communications Strategy at MedComms Experts, to explore how Medical Affairs teams can design and implement effective digital awareness campaigns that drive measurable HCP engagement and behavior change.


We’ll talk about how to:

• How to balance content creation with distribution efforts using the 2:1 ratio principle
• Why multi-channel digital campaigns outperform single-channel approaches for reaching diverse HCP audiences
• How to develop metrics-driven campaigns that optimize reach and engagement over time
• The essential components of effective email strategies
• Why community physicians need different outreach strategies than KOLs and conference attendees
  
  
  

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

Scientific Communication Platforms (SCPs) are crucial yet often underutilized tools for achieving consistent, impactful Medical Communications.

In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, Wesley Portegies is joined by Janet Davies, Global Medical Communications Lead for Neurology at UCB, to dive into the development and implementation of SCPs. 

Whether you're developing an SCP or looking to optimize an existing one, this conversation offers practical insights on aligning internal teams and creating impactful scientific narratives that resonate with healthcare professionals.

We’ll talk about how to:

• How to develop an SCP that drives consistent messaging across Medical Affairs functions
• Why early cross-functional alignment is essential for SCP success and adoption
• The critical components of an effective SCP, including pillars and lexicon development
• How to secure buy-in from different functions by demonstrating clear value propositions
• When to initiate SCP development in the drug lifecycle and how often to update it
• Why integrating patient perspectives and real-world feedback strengthens communication strategies

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

Medical Communications isn’t about clarity, it’s about impact. In the latest episode of Transforming Medical Communications, host Wesley Portegies sits down with Sabrina Guigan, Medical Communications expert, to explore how extended reality (XR) and multisensory engagement can turn traditional congress booths into high-impact educational experiences that stand out, deepen clinical understanding, and drive measurable outcomes.

In this episode, you'll learn how to:

• Leverage extended reality (XR) technology to improve medical learning
• Engage multisensory learning styles
• Successfully measure the impact of immersive educational experiences
• Build cross-functional collaboration 
  
  
  

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

In Medical Communications, success isn’t about tracking metrics; it’s about mastering them.


In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, Wesley Portegies is joined by MedComms strategist, J.R. Meloro, to discuss why mastering smarter metrics is no longer optional for Medical Affairs leaders; it’s a necessity.

Learn how to move beyond outdated metrics and implement smarter, more meaningful measurement strategies. Metrics should be your roadmap to better decisions, but only if you know how to use them effectively. The future of Medical Affairs depends on how well you track and act on data; those who don’t evolve will fall behind.

We’ll talk about how to:

• Shift from traditional metrics to ones that reveal true content engagement and impact.
• Use article-level metrics to measure the real-world reach of your research.
• Make smarter decisions by tracking field content usage down to the slide level.

Before you hit play, ask yourself: Are you measuring what matters, or just what’s easy to track?


Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

Execution is everywhere in Medical Communications, but is your agency helping you think?


In this solo episode of Transforming Medical Communications, host Wesley Portegies draws from the 2025 State of MedComms survey to explore what pharma teams truly want from their agency partners. And the answer isn’t more slide decks. It’s strategy.


Wesley breaks down the five capabilities that Medical Affairs leaders expect from modern agencies, ranging from scientific depth to digital fluency, and explains why empathy, insight, and operational awareness are just as important as technical skill. He also shares a practical example that reveals the difference between a transactional vendor and a true thought partner, and offers clear steps to activate more strategic collaboration.


Whether you’re a Medical Affairs leader briefing an agency, this episode offers a timely shift in mindset, from output to impact.


In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

•  Recognize the five qualities that define a true thought partner
•  Brief agencies with context, not just deliverables
•  Create space for challenge, insight, and innovation
•  Measure value beyond the slide deck
•  Move from tactical output to strategic influence

Before you hit play, ask yourself: Is your agency just doing the work, or helping you make smarter decisions?

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

MedComms is overdue for a reboot. Static PDFs. Oversized decks. Siloed teams. No feedback loops. These outdated practices are slowing teams down and wasting valuable resources. In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, Wesley Portegies shares bold insights from the State of Medical Communications 2025 survey and breaks down three urgent trends that pharma leaders can’t afford to ignore. From dismantling silos to killing the static PDF once and for all, this episode offers a practical roadmap to modernize how Medical Affairs teams create, deliver, and measure content. 


You’ll learn how to:

• Break down silos and align across medical, commercial, and affiliate teams
• Build content that’s interactive, modular, and actually gets used
• Track affiliate adoption and stop wasting global efforts

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

Medical Affairs is evolving, but are we evolving with it?


In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, host Wesley Portegies sits down with Kimberly Eskridge-Rose, a pioneering voice in digital transformation for Medical Affairs. Together, they discuss what it takes to move from cautious experimentation to a scalable and cross-functional social media strategy.


You’ll learn why the real risk isn’t being on social media, it’s not being there when misinformation takes the stage. Kimberly shares how her team made the leap from watching stakeholders online to building an integrated presence on platforms like X and BlueSky, how they secured compliance buy-in without friction, and why you don’t need all the answers before you start.


This is more than a case study. It’s a playbook for how Medical Affairs can own the conversation, responsibly, strategically, and at scale.


In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Build a compliant and multi-channel presence that meets stakeholders where they are
• Partner with compliance as a co-creator, not a blocker
• Turn social listening into a strategic advantage
• Use early wins (and metrics) to scale internal buy-in
• Move from reactive to proactive digital content planning

Before you hit play, ask yourself: Are you waiting for the perfect plan—or building trust in real time?


Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

There’s a silent gap in Medical Communications—and it’s not about effort, it’s about alignment.


In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, host Wesley Portegies is joined by Simon Priou, an experienced global content leader, to unpack the persistent challenges between Global, Regional, and Local teams.

This conversation goes beyond content production—it reveals the human dynamics and workflow challenges that often prevent globally developed materials from being adapted, adopted, or impactful at the local level.

Whether you’re building affiliate toolkits or bridging silos, this episode offers a strategic lens on what actually enables trust, usability, and relevance across regions.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Move from ‘content push’ to ‘collaborative pull’ by engaging regions and countries early
• Localize with precision without compromising science or timelines
• Identify the trust blockers that quietly erode alignment
• Close the loop with feedback that drives measurable improvement
  
  

Before you hit play, ask yourself: Are you creating content that travels—or content that lands?


Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

In Medical Communications, survival isn’t about using AI; it’s about mastering it. In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, Wesley Portegies is joined by AI strategist Subir Roy to discuss why mastering AI is no longer optional for leaders in Medical Affairs; it’s a competitive necessity. Learn how to eliminate inefficient processes, spot AI "hallucinations," and leverage human expertise to make smarter, faster decisions. AI can save you hours every day, but only if you know how to use it. The future belongs to those who harness AI as a strategic asset; those who don’t risk being left behind. This is your wake-up call: Master AI or risk becoming irrelevant.
We’ll talk about how to:

• Eliminate low-value busywork and reclaim time for strategic impact.
• Detect AI hallucinations and why human critical thinking matters more than ever.
• Build personalized, adaptive content ecosystems that serve your learners.
• Develop the essential leadership skill for 2025: prompt engineering.
  
  

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers. 

Digital engagement in Medical Affairs is broken, and you know it. You’ve got channels that don’t connect, metrics that don’t matter, and “innovations” that die in MLR review. It’s not your fault. But it is fixable. In this episode of Transforming Medical Communications, Wesley Portegies is joined by digital strategist Alessandra Richardson to unpack the broken realities of digital engagement and how to build tools that actually work. This isn’t about adding more platforms. It’s about connecting the right ones, co-creating with the people you serve, and aligning teams from field to MLR to create measurable, meaningful impact. If you’re tired of spinning in digital circles, this is your reset.


We’ll talk about how to:

• Design MLR-compliant digital tools that balance usability with regulatory success
• Co-create with patients and caregivers to develop content that resonates and passes review
• Connect your content ecosystem with an omnichannel strategy that actually works
  
  

Cut Through the Noise. Elevate Your Strategy.

Guiding Medical Affairs strategy across Medical Communications, Field Medical, or Medical Affairs Training? Wesley Portegies, host of Transforming Medical Communications, is opening up a few exclusive 30-minute consultancy sessions.

This is a candid, insight-rich opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, pressure-test your approach, and explore fresh solutions to complex MedComms challenges—from scientific engagement to operational alignment.

If you’re shaping the future of Medical Affairs at your organization, this conversation is for you.

 Reserve your session → Schedule now https://mce.global/consultancy

Previous guests include: Sissy Easo-Joseph at GSK, Barbara Bish at Janssen, Drew Provan at Queen Mary University, Rebecca McCracken at Agios Pharmaceuticals

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• From Event to Strategy: Making Congresses More Impactful
• Building a Medical Affairs Powerhouse Without a Big Pharma Budget
• The SCP Playbook: Turning Strategy into Real-World Impact

Transforming Medical Communications is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed by the guest are their own and do not represent any past or current employers.