Written by Vinam Puri Are you studying for (or already are) a Ph.D. in Life Science/Pharma/Biotech? Are you of a creative mind interested in the communication space but not sure if there is a career for you in it? Are you interested in going on an adventure and exploring an area you may not have known? Read right ahead and be just as amazed as I was when I learned about this. The help of a workshop introduced me to a world of opportunities that immediately felt like my niche. Let me introduce this world to you. Not only is this going to expose you to some non-traditional careers in the pharma agency space but it will also enable you to analyze yourself and help you identify the career that fits you best. Let me explain all that I have learned about the Pharma Agency Space in the rest of the article. First, let us identify the factors one should consider when trying to find their career path in this space? It is really important to understand this about yourself before you start seeking your direction. The first and most obvious factor is your interests. What is it that you like to do, can you see yourself doing it in the next few years? Some of us like to write and are also really good at it, while others may not be like starting a project, but may be really good at editing the work of others. Some of us like to only stick to the facts and can effectively be communicated in a scientific language, whereas others may be great at explaining science to laymen. The next factor to consider is your access to the industry and your experience. Lack of experience is a huge job deterrent for many grad students, especially in the communication space. Therefore, it is important to build connections and gain relevant experience while in school. This can be done by participating in extra activities that are communication specific as well. Salary is also a very big factor that comes into consideration when people make decisions about their career paths. A personal piece of advice from Alli was to give more weight to what you enjoy doing over the salary, but this factor will vary depending on individual situations. Another factor is the work environment that enriches you the most. Do you like working from home or do you like working in an office? Do you like more of a cubicle or open workspace? Depending on that, you may feel more comfortable in a bigger agency vs smaller or perhaps freelancing. Finally, personality is something you should consider because regardless of your education, your personality forms the core of who you are. The way you like to interact with people will determine the kind of role that might be right for you in the pharma space. 
Let us now focus on all the possible routes one can take to find a suitable role in the pharma agency. Pharma agencies work a lot with Big Pharma to produce content and are broken down into two main spaces – SciCom/MedCom and Advertising/Marketing Agencies. Within these branches, there are four main roles that you can do as a Ph.D. – Medical Editing, Medical Writing, Medical Direction, and Medical Strategy. The difference in SciCom and Advertising Agency are identifiable from the names. Scientific Communication (SciCom) involves a lot of high science writing and can come naturally to a fresh Ph.D. A SciCom agency could be an in-house pharma SciCom or a stand-alone agency. They perform functions such as writing abstracts, writing peer-reviewed articles, making conference slides, etc. Since it is something that most science PhDs have experienced it is fairly easy to get hired into such positions, with the right industrial connections. Your coworkers in this space are going to be your peers with a lot of them coming from PhDs and the culture is mostly academic. Advertising Agencies can be a little bit tricky for PhDs with a slightly different lingo in this space. Content created at such agencies is more focused on the story and the message that is being delivered rather than the science. Roles might include writing content for a website or for a TV commercial. The kind of slide decks you may be making would be more broad overviews or teaching decks rather than scientific decks. Co-workers in such a role may include people who are not from a pure science background and the work culture tends to be more open. This requires you to blend the science and accuracy with creativity and marketing. Both are great areas and there are opportunities in both areas, however, one needs to decide where they best fit. Coming now to the details about each of the roles in the agency space. Editing is a research role and responsibilities include fact-finding and ensuring that the science is accurate, ensuring the accuracy of references or even finding proper references for some specific information. This position also entails knowing what the Medical Legal Review team may be looking for to be compliant with the FDA. Editors may work on websites, brochures, graphics, outlines, and even metadata to ensure efficient search engine optimization. Work hours are comfortable in such a role and you can get home at a reasonable hour. Writing involves actually writing the content as compared to ensuring accuracy on someone else’s work. Writing could be high science writing that could be aimed at health care professionals or it could be patient writing and one could take their pick on which one they like more. Branded messaging, which is focused on the product or unbranded messaging, which is focused on a disease state, could be a part of the responsibilities. Writers partner with the creative team to assist with the high science content. Medical Direction and Strategy are roles that you can typically migrate into as you gain more experience. Directors guide writers and train teams and may involve teaching decks. Directors are the expert and they teach the rest of the group. They also interact with the client and are expected to know all about the science of your product. Directors may also work with the writers to give them guidance or outlines. You take in a lot of information, process it and deliver clean ideas to different outlets. Strategy takes the highest level of experience since you are not only needed to understand the science but also lingo of pharma. Not only are you looking at your product when in such a role, but you are also looking at the entire landscape. This includes knowing about the industry, competitor recognition and their products, pros and cons of your drug, the way the message about that should be delivered to the doctors and why your product would be prescribed over others. You are bringing the medical voice to the strategy and work with the business and accounts teams. This role also includes conducting KOL interviews or patient interviews and combine the primary research with the secondary research. The work environment in the agency depends on the type of role you select for yourself and you could do that based on your personality. Would you want to work in a large agency with more room to grow or a small one with more personal attention? Getting into a larger agency would generally require some experience and would entail a higher stability with a relatively lower flexibility. You may have a bigger commitment and more expectations in a larger agency whereas in a small agency the format could be cubicle type and because there is lesser experience needed, may be the place to start out. Medical writing and editing areas could also be a great place for freelancing and there is always a requirement for this. It is easier to get freelancer work, however, if you have some experience and have developed a network in the space. Flexibility when freelancing is really high, but the role is not stable. Consulting groups are middle grounds with more stability along with flexibility. These are a network of people working together on things like contracts and more and dividing work amongst the team based on the expertise of members. The environment you are comfortable in depends on your work ethics and personality. Another thing to help decide is look at the Amplitude vs Attitude profile you are capable of achieving, which is the amount of effort you can put in over time. Can you consistently work on a high intensity or do you like to have periods of lesser intensity or breaks to be productive? There are personality tests that you can take, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and more to identify what kind of roles you are most suited for. Based on my personal personality assessment, I found out I am a more expressive person with a focus on the big picture. With some additional skills like learning the pharma lingo and about FDA rules and regulation, I could be great in a Strategy kind of role. The one-year paradox You like these roles and may be interested in pharma agency but see that most openings require a year or so of experience. As a fresh graduate, you may not have that. Here are some of the plentiful resources available for you to use. Resources like BadAd Course offered by the FDA that teaches about promotional and regulatory topics. American Medical Writers (AMWA) is another resource that you can utilize and get internships in writing roles so that you can put that on your resume. Networking is definitely important, and you can explore resources like Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, BioPharma Networking Group (BPNG), Medical Marketing and Media (MM&M) website, etc. Make sure to put any such experiences on your resume so that you can get the required attention. A role in the Pharma Agency may not be for all but if you feel like you are the kind of person who would enjoy utilizing your science background and combining it with your creative side and form a perfect amalgam, this non-traditional career may be the right direction for you! This article was edited by Andrew Petryna and Maryam Alapa
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