October 2021 Summary Of #MedAffairsTalk on Clubhouse

Every week the #MedAffairsTalk group comes together to discuss current topics in Medical Affairs. Thanks to the amazing guest speakers and audience, we have engaging conversations that dive deeper into various topics. Our fantastic moderators are Luca Dezzani, Amy Pernell Cavers, Bora Erdemli, PhD, and myself.

Below are the summary points from each session, but we would love to hear you live! Please join us for our next sessions, which are each Friday at 1 PM EST on Clubhouse!

October 1, 2021 - The Behavioral Science of Medical Decision Making

IV Cocaine = knowledge gaining.

Yes, you read that right ???Brian Dunn?was a perspicacious guest who gave us great insights into the science to more effectively deliver our messages.?

?Here are my take-aways from this week:

?? Learning and gaining knowledge is rewarding. Research into the neurological reward circuitry found that different modalities (food, money, sex, and IV cocaine) trigger the same systems. Yes, in the study, they injected participants with IV cocaine. People really enjoy acquiring new knowledge, and it is motivating; it is compelling and perceived as enjoyable. (article below)

???We are not passive in how we process information. In our setting (when we talk with physicians and other HCPs), we share our knowledge with someone who is an expert and already has a framework of how they perceive their world. It is easier to add to what we know when it fits our current worldview. Our CNS has a bias towards survival, and this signaling arguably applies to information. So does the information support or threaten our view? Less dramatically, how does it, or doesn't it, alter our treatment views?

???This makes it pertinent that to deliver a compelling message that stimulates the pleasure centers in the brain, we, as MA professionals, have to know and understand the views and perceptions of our HCPs. With the vast volume of information out there, this decision-making process also filters down to what *you* perceive as relevant; there is selectivity.

???Why do we not revisit failures? We thrive on a feeling of confidence, where we don't like to revisit something that didn't go right. We feel rewarded for not revisiting those considerations and arguably punished if we do reconsider them until a new scientific cycle comes around.

???Physicians have choice architectures that are created by the information they gather and the knowledge they gain. Filtering deliberately and judiciously, and communicating that to the patient effectively, requires a basic level of numeracy and literacy by both patient and physician.

This was a fantastic conversation, and Brian suggested the following article for further reading:

Sharot, T., & Sunstein, C. R. (2020). How people decide what they want to know.?Nature Human Behaviour,?4(1), 14-19.

And did you know there is a "Society of Medical Decision Making?" I had no idea, but I will look more into this.

October 8, 2021 - Hall of Fame - Audience Shares All

Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of success.

Thank you to all our amazing guests who came on stage at?#MedAffairsTalk?to share their ‘failures’ or moments of growth with all of us!

?Here are my take-aways from this week:

??? Failures are part of the growing process. Every failure that was talked about was a lesson to all of us.

??? Failures are relatable. Whenever someone on stage shared their ‘failure,’ I was like, oh, I’ve been there!

??? Sharing makes it less of a ‘failure.’ And maybe we should share more often, and especially share more with early-career MA professionals.

??? A lot of ‘failures’ are born out of enthusiasm and eagerness to do things well. Eagerness to share ALL of the data (??♀? ), chasing a KOL that doesn’t’ want to be involved (??♀? ).

??? Sometimes failures are really blessings in disguise, and it is only a matter of time before you can pick the fruits of your labor.

October 16, 2021, What makes a good mentor & how to find one?

Kong Fu Panda ?? and the Art of Mentorship! With special guest?Tim Mikhelashvili.??Here are my take-aways from this week:

??? Everybody, whether early-stage, mid-stage or late-stage career, needs to assemble a Dream Team around themselves; a therapist, a coach, and different mentors that help you stay grounded (the grounder), strategize (the strategist), and the cheerleader (who is always supporting you!). Mentors can be peers or have a more advanced title and can be either within or outside of our industry.

??? There's a difference between the therapist (trained to give you tools and evidence-based techniques to deal with the past), the coach (trained to provide you with tools and evidence-based strategies to nurture personal/professional development and growth), and the mentor/mentee relationship, which is one of reciprocity where both the mentor and the mentee learn and grow from each other.

??? What makes a mentor/mentee relationship successful? First, there must be clarity about the goals of the mutual relationship. Secondly, there is a dialogue and sharing of ideas. Thirdly, there is active work towards a relationship that becomes lasting.

??? What causes a mentor/mentee relationship to fail? If there is an imbalance of power in the relationship and inequity leads to loss of autonomy. When there is no clear direction of the relationship or clear expectations, the relationships can also go awry.?

??? Logistically, organized mentorship programs (Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS)) are either six months or 12 months in duration, but a successful mentorship relationship is enduring past the initial work.

October 22, 2021 - The art of "Promotability" in Medical Affairs

Perception is the co-pilot of reality was only 1 of the phrases I threw out there, and I had a few to share!

?Here are my take-aways from this week:

??? Promotability is based on 5 pillars: self-awareness, awareness of others, thought leadership, executive presence, and strategic thinking. Self-awareness and awareness of others are the 2 key determinants of whether you will be successful as a leader and require careful cultivation.

??? It's important to differentiate between gaining technical skills and becoming a leader. Gaining technical knowledge is not a determinant in Promotability, but how you leverage that technical knowledge and expand on it matters.

??? Are we hiring (and firing or retaining) people for the right reasons? Should the focus really be on the D-degree, and are we forgetting about the other very important skills; the soft skills. And both in hiring and career planning, envision how your professional growth will happen.

??? Strategic thinking is not about how you think you are strategic thinking, but how your senior leadership perceives your contributions. Are you adding value? Are you doing the things required of someone who is above you? I.e. is promoting merely a rectification of an error since you already do the job of your promoted job title.

??? Strategic thinking is the cumulation of the 4 other pillars. It requires that you have built the trust and confidence from your senior leadership, and they give you the opportunity and the change. But this can only happen when you know what matters to them (awareness of others), they are aware of your thought leadership, you are self-aware and you have the executive presence to get noticed.

October 29, 2021 - How to Prepare for 2022

Another energetic?#MedAffairsTalk?where we went from the META verse to more traditional planning for?#medicalaffairs!

?Abby Fraser?is transitioning to another job at a wonderful company and will be very much missed by all of us! We wish you the very best and hope you will often return to our CH sessions, or at least once in a while!

?Thank you to all our amazing guests who came on stage at?#MedAffairsTalk?to share their questions and experiences!?Luca Dezzani, Abby, and I led today's topic of 2022 planning. Bora and Amy will be back shortly!

?Here are my take-aways from this week:

??? With Facebook changing its name to META, there is a change in the acceptance and path forward for the metaverse. Not everyone is equally acceptant of this jolt forward, but the newness of the technology could explain that. An adjustment period, so to speak.

??? What are the implications for the advancement of the metaverse for Medical Affairs? There are both pros and cons, though the cons may be solved by future technology. We're not ready to jump in head first, but the metaverse could be a future venue for advisory boards, conferences, etc. For now, it is challenging to interpret body language and have an interpersonal experience. With new technology, the metaverse will have to go beyond the flat Zoom and perhaps incorporate holograms?

??? Can we? Should we? And how soon? Embrace these new technologies, including voice-activated devices? It's essential to recognize that we have digitally native, digitally adaptive, and digitally na?ve MA professionals and KOLs/HCPs. To transition into using the metaverse, we have to be mindful of each participant's digital comfort level.

??? Out of the metaverse and back to the now, we talked about how planning is the first step to success. Write it down and execute. Take the time to build a roadmap for 2022 for your own professional and personal development and that of your team. Those that invested in themselves and their teams saw higher productivity, work satisfaction, and confidence.

??? And what is in between the one extreme of the metaverse and the other extreme of planning? Work with the technology that makes you feel comfortable, but at the same time, try to exert yourself a little outside of your comfort zone!

?Thank you all for joining us each week and please join us on stage next time!

?? #medicalaffairs #MedAffairsTalk #medicalaffairsleader