Underqualified or Overqualified as an Aspiring MSL. Probably both

I believe this is one of the key issues for most professionals like yourself wanting to break into the MSL role. On the one hand you feel overqualified – you are a highly accomplished professionals with probably a terminal D degree (PhD, MD,...

Many people ask us what degree do you need to become a Medical Science Liaison (MSL)?

This really depends on the company and country you are in. 

Globally the most abundant background of MSLs are the researchers and the pharmacists. Researchers’ background can be BSc, MSc or PhD. While pharmacists can be...

When “from SCIENCE to PHARMA” asked me if I’d write a piece on how my first 2 years as MSL have been, I immediately thought about what a life-changing decision it has been to transition from Academia to Pharma as an MSL. And how much more rewarding and fulfilling the MSL role is than I’d...

Those of you who have read my blog posts might have wondered where Dr.J went. Wasn’t he on a mission to transition..? Did he lock himself in in the cold room, for a colleague to find him frozen to the floorboards on Monday morning? Go on and do yet another postdoc? Succumb to the challenge..?

No. None of that....

My brief ‘radio silence’ on the blog has had a cause. After completing multiple interview rounds successfully, I finally had an MSL contract in hand! Yes, indeed a contract! However, I didn’t sign it.

Let me describe how my final interview round unfolded, how great of an experience it was and how...

Interview Round 2+

To pick up the thread from my last post: After my initial contact with a recruiter some time ago, I was invited to a next interview round for an MSL role in oncology that  I find tremendously exciting. I was extremely happy, nonetheless, a ‘healthy nervousness’ now descended upon...

How much can happen in one week, regarding mood swings and career possibilities..? Quite a few things to be honest, but I’ll get to the career options later.

First I want to share something typical with you that I experienced this week, actually a discussion I got into with a colleague. It wasn’t the...

Does everyone who wants to exit academia and go into pharma, come to this point?

For roughly a year I have been working on finding a personal path to transition out of academia, two years if you count the “early days” of bold exploration and idea-sculpting.

So, for about a year I’ve been working...

It appears the more I write the more ideas I get for postings… For example, I made it to Round Two via a second recruiter interview (not the same recruiter as the first time, I likely burned that bridge, I think) and that development could be worth a post in itself. Also, there is the personal transformation...

After two posts about my early adventures on the bumpy road out of academia and into pharma, I got into some sort of internal struggle. I was going to write about why I actually aspire to leave academia. Until that subject got me questioning that exact point. Sounds familiar? Please do leave any suggestions or...