MSL Flashcards
Time you had to Establish Relationships
- New Role - Bridging gaps between sub specialty departments
- KP National Site Visit
- New role as Oncology Pharmacist - Working with providers and communication strategies
How do you approach establishing relationships
Maintaining relationships with key opinion leaders in the medical field requires a strategic and personalized approach. I believe in regular, meaningful communication to keep them updated on recent developments and research findings.
Understanding their interests and challenges is crucial. By providing tailored information and resources that address these areas, we can foster mutual respect and trust.
Face-to-face interactions at conferences or seminars are also important for relationship building. These engagements provide opportunities to discuss shared goals and collaborate on potential projects.
Lastly, acknowledging their contributions and inputs helps solidify our partnership. It’s about creating a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit from each other’s expertise.”
Difficult KOL
Goal: Need to have the opportunity to show value
Problem: Difficult KOLs dont think they need added info from MSLs or already know the space since they are “experts in field”. Understand what is valuable to them
Task: Create opportunity to meet with them
- Provide value right out of the gate so you have opportunity again (be ready to go)
- Pre Call Planning - Have what you are going to say ready and be ready to say it
PRE CALL PLANNING
(difficult KOL prep)
- Know the person you are planning on seeing so you can build rapport (cite specific article and opinion about work):
-Their work
- Articles, etc - Provide value and understand what kind of information the KOL needs/wants/considers valuable
- Don’t Data Dump -> Tell a story
- Ask others in your network, commercial group, MSLs
- Don’t be afraid to be educated by the KOL (they are the expert), use this opportunity for discussion
- be prepared to show them something they may have already seen (anticipate questions to ask KOL)
How do you gather insights on your product and competitor products?
- Stay up to date on NCCN Guidelines, Congresses, HOPA, ASCO, Clinical Trial Updates
- Establish relationships on field from other KOLs and gather their insights on products
- Identify gaps and trends in tx
How would you develop strategy to implement within your region
- Start with collaboration with those already on the field
- Identify KOLs from academic institutions and community centers
- Use existing network to recognize/connect with existing KOLs
- Pre-Call Planning: understand what motivates the KOL, what brings value to the KOL
- Communicate with KOL and gather data ingishts on treatment
Describe a time you had to prioritize tasks to meet multiple deadlines
Example
1) Balancing Competing Priorities: Organizational Inititaives vs. Day to Day tasks
* prioritize Task
* Delegate
* Follow Up
Important to make sure task was completed accurately, needs met and follow up
Identify Now Problem, tomorrow problem and week problem
Describe your Strengths
Leadership
Strong Scientific Acumen
Communication Skills
Ability to collaborate
Credibility/Integrity
Situation with a difficult customer
- Initial Koester Experience
During a clinical trial, one physician was skeptical about the new treatment protocol. I understood his concern as it was a significant shift from conventional methods.
I initiated a meeting with him and presented relevant research data supporting the efficacy of this new approach. We also discussed potential patient benefits and addressed his concerns in-depth.
This open dialogue helped build trust and he agreed to try the new protocol. The outcome was positive, reinforcing the importance of effective communication and evidence-based discussions.”
- Patient Centric Examples
- Inflectra
What clinical experience do you have that can help you be successful as an MSL
- 10 years oncology experience
- Regional and National networking
- Understand treatment algorithms and gaps in care.
- Understand trends in care
- Side effect management and improving outcomes
- Understand how to drive organizational initiatives/objectives
Can you describe a situation you influenced someone and result
- Therapy plan pathway rollouts and communicating with providers
- Advocating for our department on specific initiatives
Have you ever convinced a provider to choose a specific product? How did you persuade them?
BTKI Conversion
Can you explain why you are interested in this particular disease area?
Why do you want to become an MSL? Have you always wanted to do this?
Individual:
* Personal Skills align with the role
* Strong scientific accumen: Love to speak to data and science
* Collaboration and Communication
* Frontline of novel therapeutics and emerging pathways
Organizational:
* Thrive in being in environment with dynamic team, like to work in environments with other high performers
* Gather insights to bring back to Medical Research & Strategy
* Collaboration with other Liaisons within field medical affairs: Diagnostic Regional Medical Liaisons, Medical Value Liaisons, Health Economics Outcome Research, Med Info
* Collaboration on Training Programs and other organizational objectives
How do you establish and maintain relationships?
- Get to know person professionally and personally
- ask others in network for insight
- Engage the person and actively listen
How do you analyze a clinical paper?
Understand:
- How the trial was structured.
- What it was comparing
- Randomization and heterogeneity
- limitations
- Bias
- Validity
- interpretation of results: Statistical significance
- Consideration of other events
Can you describe a project you were responsible for from start to finish
What are your short term and long term goals?
Three Strengths
- Go to reference
- KW feedback
- Primary Point of Contact for entire region
- Strong Scientific Acumen
- Hizentra
- BTKI conversion
- Communication/Collaboration
- DACARBAZINE shortage
Can you tell me about a Study you read and how would you improve its efficacy?
- Utilization of ADAPTIVE CLINICAL TRIAL DESIGNS
- adding/dropping doses
- increasing size or duration of trial
- enriching the population and having right targeted population
Provide an example of the time you provided medical professional with info that helped improve pt outcomes?
Mekinist/Tafinlar dosing
If medical provider asked a question about product you didn’t know the answer, how would you answer
- Thank them for interest in product
- Tell them I’m am not familiar with particular question or topic but I would investigate further
- ask for additional questions
- return with answers in timely fashion
There is a new drug on market similar to ours. How would you differentiate to our customers?
Research both drugs
Understand similarities and differences
- MOA
- indications
- side effects
- contraindications
- pharmakokinetics
Develop effective strategies to communicate differences
Understand market trends and leverage insights with KOLs
Describe a time you had to explain complex medical info in an easy to understand way
“For a technical audience, I focus on detailed data and scientific concepts. For a non-specialist audience, I simplify the information, using analogies and clear visuals to ensure comprehension.”
How do you handle difficult conversations with medical professionals
- Remain calm/respectful
- be sensitive
- honest and direct
- provide clear explanations
- attempt to reach mutually beneficial outcome
Three weaknesses or areas for improvement
- delegation doesn’t come naturally
- very critical of myself
Tell me about a time you failed or made a mistake
OBGYN East
Tell me about a time you disagreed with someone
What would your coworkers say about you?
Point of contact
Strong communication skills both verbal and written
Leadership skills
PROVIDE EXAMPLES
Tell me about a time you showed leadership
Why should we hire you?
ALIGN WITH JOB DESCRIPTION
- self motivated leader
- strong scientific acumen
- proven hx working with HCPs and experience as leader driving innovation and change.
- advocate for best practices and therapies
Two examples of strategic thinking
How would you measure success in this role?
A decision you made that was poorly received by colleagues
What challenges do you anticipate as our next MSL and how do you plan to meet those challenges
What is your greatest achievement
- Pick something recent
- show what you are bringing to the team
- “however, I hope my biggest achievement is yet to come”
What are you looking for in your next position?
Why are you interested in this position?
Examples of Teamwork
Examples of leadership
Examples of decision making
Examples strategic thinking
Examples of innovation
Examples of compliance
Time you had to be extra diligent to meet a deadline
(Show how you can act diligently, your ability to stay organized on the job and prioritize tasks/deadlines while ensuring other tasks get completed on time. Talk about tools/resources used to keep yourself on track with meeting deadlines)
Handling Difficult Conversations with HCPs
When a problem requires a quick solution, how do you typically respond?
Walk the interviewer through your process when it comes to making quick decisions. Maybe you rely on past experience or perhaps you go with an educated gut feeling. Maybe you have read case studies that you lean on in these instances. No matter how you answer, you want to ultimately demonstrate that you are confident and able to react swiftly when the need arises in the field with a key medical leader.
What challenges do you anticipate if hired as our next Medical Science Liaison, and how will you meet those challenges?
(discuss territory establishment, different phases of MSL product lifecycle - Pre lauch, peri-launch, and post-launch/mature product - see themsls.org/category/msl-job-interview/interview-preparation/
Discuss with your interviewer a couple of responsibilities in this MSL role that will present a learning curve for you. What your interviewer will ideally be looking to hear is that you have a plan in mind for meeting and overcoming the challenges that you foresee. Perhaps this opportunity requires you to learn the details of an unfamiliar medical specialty and you know that it will take some time to adjust. Be honest with the interviewer about the challenges you expect to face; however, focus most of your response on the action steps you plan to take to meet these challenges.
Our MSL’s play a critical role in the success of our organization. How can we motivate you as a leader, keeping you engaged in the job?
“What motivates me is the potential to continue to grow with a blooming company and take on more responsibilities down the road. I value a company that appreciates me and all of its employees. I value recognition, especially when it plays a role in taking my career to the next level. Loyalty is rare these days, and it’s something I truly value.”
Have you ever provided training to physician and other healthcare leaders? If so, what aspect did you enjoy most, and what did you find most challenging?
If you have direct experience in providing training to medical staff, be sure to talk in detail about the materials you presented and be open and honest about what aspect you enjoyed and what you found to be challenging. Be sure to talk about the size of the group that you presented to and how you handled the entire training to give your interviewer the sense that you can handle providing leadership training at their organization. If you are a new grad that doesn’t have direct experience in this realm yet, talk about your experiences in training and educating other medical professionals and how this experience will help translate to this role.
Key Performance Indicators
- decision making based on insights (identifying knowledge gaps, actions taken in response to these insights, feedback from stakeholders)
- How well you know your therapeutic area (learn latest developments and treatments in therapuetic area, know latest publications, discuss w/ KOLs)
- Business Acumen - know your therapeutic area as well as competitor products
- Communication Skills
Clinical Trial Involvement
“In a recent project, I facilitated a phase IV trial for a new diabetes drug with a large healthcare organization. My role involved coordinating communication between the research team and the organization’s medical staff.
I ensured all parties were updated on progress, potential issues, and changes in protocol. This included training sessions to familiarize staff with the trial procedures and maintaining open lines of communication throughout the process.
The trial was successful, largely due to this effective collaboration. We managed to enroll sufficient patients quickly, maintain high compliance rates, and complete the study as scheduled. The results contributed significantly to our understanding of the drug’s long-term effects, proving its safety and efficacy in a real-world setting.”
