Medical Affairs Spotlight Newsletter

Week after week in MSL Mastery trainings, the same thing gets people talking: best-practice sharing. It comes up in our survey data almost every time. When we first saw the pattern, it made perfect sense to Sarah. Medical Affairs is a lonely job. Especially if you are in the field. People ...

Sep 25, 2026

Edition 80: The Frontier Issue: What the AI "Slow Down" Debate Means For Medical Affairs

One of the most-talked-about AI stories this week came from Anthropic (Claude) CEO Dario Amodei. In his essay, “We Must Pace the Frontier,” he argues that AI is advancing faster than safety rules and oversight can keep up. His point: the companies building the most powerful AI systems can see ...

Sep 18, 2026

Edition 79: Why NPs and PAs Belong on Your MSL Team, and How We Get Them Field-Ready

An MSL leader messaged Sarah this week with a ‘fantasy’ football draft question: "What do you think of PAs and NPs as part of MSL teams?" Sarah's answer was fast: you can't build a best-in-class MSL team without them. Her first MSL team was all PharmDs, PhDs, and MDs. But across her recruiting...

Sep 11, 2026

Edition 78: AI Slop

Great news! People are getting more comfortable with AI. We love hearing managers tell us their teams are actually using what they learned in our training. But all of our amazing AI training leading to all that AI adoption is creating another problem: AI slop Here's what we mean by AI s...

Sep 04, 2026

Edition 77: Insights Tinder

We put an insight on the screen during a recent insights training and asked everyone to: Swipe right or swipe left? Half the room confidently swiped right. The other half wanted to send it straight into the black hole. Then the debate starts. One person likes it because it came from...

Aug 28, 2026

Edition 76: MSL Insights Report Card Prompt

Ask an MSL how many insights they submitted last month, and they can probably tell you. Ask whether those insights were actually any good. That answer is much harder. The answers will range from “Absolutely” to “I have no idea.” When Medical Affairs talks about the “insights black hole,...

Aug 21, 2026

Edition 75: The Awkward Issue: Nobody Wants to Be Awkward. Everybody Has Been.

7:47 AM. A regional conference. You spot a KOL you've emailed 4 times, walk over warm with a big "so good to finally meet you," stick out your hand, and knock his coffee right off the counter. He's gracious about it. You are mortified. You spend the rest of the morning replaying it in your hea...

Aug 16, 2026

Edition 74: DIA MASC 2027 Call for Abstracts

Almost everyone in Medical Affairs has left a conference session thinking: → “They missed the most useful part” → “Our team has already solved this month’s ago” → “I could have given a waaayyyy better presentation” Okay, conference critic. Your turn. You don’t need a secret qualific...

Aug 07, 2026

Edition 73: Subject Line Workshop and Blog

We have seen MSLs completely transform their email response rates from less than 10% open rates to over 50% by changing 1 thing. And it’s probably not what you think. HCP/KOL access is one of the biggest challenges MSLs face and will continue to face as AI use continues to grow. We see this ...

Jul 31, 2026

Edition 72: Team Growth Goes Viral

That was a big deal. I practiced a lot… because I wanted to make you all look good." That's what a national MSL leader told her team after nailing her presentation at their POA. She could've played it cool. "Oh, it was nothing." Most people do. She didn't. She told the truth. She'd worked hard...

Jul 25, 2026

Edition 71: 4 Worlds of AI & MSLs OneMSL Webinar

In the last 2 weeks, we have heard 3 different hiring managers say they are actively looking for AI skills in interviews. For example, Dave Harper recently joined our Aspire MSL Office Hours to talk about what MSL hiring managers really want. First off, he came prepared with slides and he br...

Jul 18, 2026

Edition 70: Data Dump Bingo

Can we talk about the most exhausting mixed message in Medical Affairs? Seems like every other LinkedIn post says: "Don't data dump. Be an active listener. Have a real conversation." Everybody hits 👍. Those same MSL leaders hand you a 40-slide deck, eight key messages you're required to land...

Jul 10, 2026

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Excel in Your Career and Life