Writing your resume for a Medical Affairs leadership role?
A compelling resume for Medical Affairs or Clinical Affairs has evolved FAR beyond a list of clinical and leadership tasks.
- If you’re competing for executive positions at a pharma or biotech company, your resume must showcase your impact on growth, while juggling intensive demands in the medical and clinical affairs arena.
- You’ll need to prove you can bridge the gap among medical teams, physicians, hospital executives, and marketing interests, showing your collaboration, revenue generation, and commercialization skills – as well as business and branding insights.
Here are 5 key elements for a Medical Affairs resume designed to attract pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, or other life sciencies employers:
Strategic leadership in research or clinical settings.
Medical Affairs executives often combine commercial-side business meetings with oversight of research strategy, clinical studies, and scientific claims validation.
As shown in this VP of Medical Affairs sample resume, you’ll need to explain how your work has shaped product commercialization, fostered communication among commercial and clinical groups, and produced growth from clinical programs.
Alliances and relationship management are core skills for these positions; clinical and medical affairs leaders are often tapped to identify KOLs, coordinate clinical trial recruitment, and present justifications.
In addition, you’ll want to describe strategic planning and forecasting activities that affect your company, including details of R&D roadmaps, or studies related to market direction.
Revenue impact from medical affairs activities and products.
Often, the quality of research studies and the directives issued by executives can shape market adoption, and in turn, revenue.
On a Medical Affairs executive resume, it’s important to show how your work grew market share – especially in cases where product quality is verified after facing market challenges.
Note that the above resume sample references $2.5B in 14 new products when describing this leader’s clinical program work.
Remember that figures carry the most weight in a leadership resume! If you can’t mention specific revenue and dollar amounts, consider describing the scope of your role in more general terms (such as “multimillion-dollar revenue”) to help quantify the results.
Your experience in R&D, clinical settings, or other related work.
Many Medical Affairs Directors or Vice Presidents offer extensive clinical expertise (such as a background in R&D, clinical practice, or medical school).
Employers such as major pharmaceutical firms often seek clinical experience among executive staff, expecting to see prior jobs as Medical Scientist, Physician, Resident, or R&D Project Leader. They many also seek your ability to interact with commercial-side leaders.
Frame your clinical experience in simple, summarized terms, using a short listing of earlier titles (shown in the same example of a VP Medical Affairs Resume).
An Early Career section at the end of the resume can accomplish the same thing, allowing your clinical expertise to serve as a backdrop for recent executive leadership activities.
The scope of your medical affairs portfolio authority.
Some Medical Affairs executives are required to manage an extensive product portfolio, with concurrent preparations for new-product launch and continual clinical trials.
Others handle Health Economics & Outcomes Research (HEOR), identify new indications, administer board submissions to FDA and international agencies, and more.
Here, you can see how a Clinical Development and Medical Affairs resume shows 460% in new revenue growth, while describing this leader’s authority for cross-functional coordination, new stakeholder alliances, and HEOR.
Your responsibility for the commercial viability of pharmaceuticals and drug delivery systems, including sales training and a clear grasp of each product’s market goals, should take center stage on your Medical Affairs resume.
In addition, you’ll want to list white papers (reporting significant clinical trial findings) that you’ve authored, or publications that you’ve directed staff to produce. If you advise leadership teams of expected research study results, this influence is another key item to include on your resume.
Your promotional results.
A crucial responsibility for many Medical Affairs leaders, marketing and promotions are important factors in product acceptance and the company’s reputation.
Your experience may include branding initiatives, market access, payer relations, and other essential support to a traditional Medical Affairs function.
Endorsements secured from industry leaders, assessments of market potential, justifications for data development, or presentations to industry leaders on the product’s purpose should all be described in detail, including revenue results.
A strong Medical Affairs leadership resume must demonstrate your ability to balance the demands of both business and clinical interests.
Ensure your resume is designed around a strong set of personal, clinical, and commercial leadership achievements attractive to biotech or pharmaceutical employers.
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