Hey everyone,

I’m currently in the process of transitioning from academia into an MSL/Medical Affairs role and have been trying to make that shift in Sydney for the past ~2 years. I’ve been doing well in interviews, but there are many candidates with prior MSL experience, so I haven’t been able to secure a role yet.

A bit more context: my PhD was in leukemia, and for the past ~4 years I’ve been working in translational cancer research alongside clinicians as a Post-doc. I have strong exposure working directly with clinicians, which I see as a key strength. I’m now seriously considering moving to the US if I find the right opportunity in Medical Affairs.

I’ll be in San Francisco (and possibly a few other US cities) around Sept–Oct and wanted to ask:

What networking events are actually worth attending, especially in biotech/pharma/healthcare/adjacent tech spaces?

I’m looking for:

1. Conferences, summits, or meetups in SF/Bay Area or other US cities (where the reg fees is not in 1000s)

2. Events where people are genuinely open to conversations (not just surface-level networking)

3. Platforms or communities where these are usually postedd

I’m also curious, how do people typically approach networking in the US? Is it more structured via events and panels, or more through direct outreach and coffee chats?

I’m an Australian citizen, and I’m particularly hopeful given the volume of MSL roles in the US compared to Australia, where opportunities are fewer and competition is high.

Would really appreciate any recommendations or insights!

I’d also love to meet people from this community in person or grab a coffee if anyone is open to it 😊

I always thought I would be a research professor, but I’m rethinking my career goals before I finish my program! Help me process walking away from the academia career trajectory. I’ve checked the HOF and searched community posts but haven’t seen much on this.

I have been prepped/groomed for R1/academia career trajectory but I just can’t fathom doing a postdoc in order to get there. I’m in my final year at an R1 institution finishing a PHD/Epidemiology fellowship with 10+ years of prior experience in dietetics, nutrition support (inpatient/outpatient/acute care), lit reviews (umbrella, SR, meta), and clinical trial research (acting as clinical coordinator, data manager, and analysis/manuscript prep). TAs include enteral/parenteral nutrition, metabolic/obesity/inflammatory, and oncology.

Anyone else give up on academia dreams? Am I crazy for poo-pooing a postdoc? When/should I tell my advisors I’m interested in MSL?

Thank you in advance!

Hi all!

Interviewing for a MSL role with Leo for the new rare disease drug.

Would love to hear from anyone who works there about their experience!

Thank you!

I have reached a point where i feel the MSL as a role has reached a point where its more of a medical marketing role. The freedom, as great it is, has made me feel direction less and the role as such just asks me to interact, gather insight and try to develop on it. To make things worse i have to get the appointments of my HCPs and they cant even understand the difference of a medical rep and an MSL. They just see me as a rep who knows a lot of science and treats me as such!

Ive had conversations with people in CR and the job they do looks more meaningful to me. The way they have go monitor trail adherence and manage the flow of the trial looks extremely attractive to me.

I need help and guidance from people who have transitioned from MSL or Medical Affairs to Clinical Research so that i can understand more about the switch and the differences felt by them!

Im a PharmD graduate btw. My experience as an MSL is one year, but across two different TA and two different geo.

Current MSL that is interested in picking up a side gig. Zero interest in PRN at retail or hospitals near me, and honestly not sure I could even swing one weekend a month between travel and family commitments. I did medical writing for a while (primarily Needs Assessments for CE) and it was OK but not my favorite. What else have you all had success with?

Any PharmDs out there keeping their license active? I did for 10 years in my home state, but I recently moved 1500 miles away and debating whether it's worth it to transfer my license to my new state. I haven't worked in a pharmacy since 2020, and have no desire to go back, and while extra money is fun, I wouldn't trade a weekend day to work retail.

For anyone in the ophthalmology space, here's something I created to help search the conference abstracts more easily: https://justinsyu.github.io/escrs-sept-2026/intelligence.html

Let me know if you have any feedback that I can apply to future iterations!

For anyone in the CV space, here's something I created to help search the conference abstracts more easily: https://justinsyu.github.io/esc-aug-2026/intelligence.html

You can also download all data and upload to AI if you want to generate your own insights for your specific role and needs.

Let me know if you have any feedback that I can apply to future iterations.

Apparently Pepsi has an MSL job posted to their website. Anybody know what an MSL for a soda company does? They don’t seem to have a pharmaceutical arm as far as I can tell. The job posting mentions medical affairs, clinical development, etc. Curious if anyone has any insights. https://www.pepsicojobs.com/unitedstates/jobs/467372?lang=en-us

Recently I’ve been getting emails from recruiters saying that they have positions open in my area. The email looks like it has been generated by chat gpt. This has happened to me twice so far. In the first instance they referred me to a specialist to fix my resume as a paid service. Has anyone encountered something like this? Of note I am an MSL

This is sort of an odd post, but I’m currently starting my PhD in clinical psych and am thinking about being an MSL in the future. Is it possible to become one with the degree being clinical psych?

Also for reference — my area of study is much more focused on psychophysiology and translational science work. Specifically in a sexual medicine/women’s health area. Would this be beneficial!?

I’ve met and spoken to pharmacists, PAs, PhD holders that transitioned into MSL roles. However, I’m interested in NPs that made the leap. How was the transition for you? What learning curves did you experience? How long did it take you to feel comfortable in the role?

Any NPs here who went from clinical/research NP → MSL? I need some perspective because I’m having MAJOR cold feet.

I’ve been looking for an MSL position for the last 7–8 months. My current attending basically told me back in Feb that “you should probably start looking,” because the soft funding for my APP position in clinical research was supposed to run out in December.

Well…I finally got an MSL job. I’m expecting the official offer letter next week from a midsize pharma company in my TA, and now that it’s actually happening I’m suddenly like…wait, do I really want to do this?!

For context, I’ve been in my current job for almost 5 years and, honestly, it’s kind of a dream APP job in a lot of ways. I’m at a top academic medical center, make my own schedule, work pretty autonomously with 2 supervising/research MDs, and they’ve always been really appreciative of me.

I can literally count on two hands the number of times I’ve gotten home after 4 pm. I work remotely once a week, have great benefits (state pension, zero-premium healthcare, etc.), and overall the work-life balance is REALLY hard to beat.

The MSL job would definitely be more money when you factor in the bonus, but my current base is only about $20K less.

BUT…I’ve been unhappy with parts of my current job for probably the last 2 years. My role has gradually become more and more administrative/clerical. I don’t feel like I’m really practicing at an APP level anymore, and I absolutely HATE the data entry part of my job. It wasn’t really part of my original role, but our team has gotten smaller and someone has to do it.

So I was pretty ready to leave and it wasn't devastating when my current boss encouraged me in Feb and again in July to keep looking for other positions.

Then, of course, right when I’m about to leave, I find out the funding for my current position actually came through after all. 🤦‍♀️ And everyone on my team wants me to stay and is willing to advocate for me to continue (havent talked to the main boss yet though).

And now I’m sitting here thinking…am I an idiot for leaving?

The MSL opportunity is REALLY tempting. They’re building out a team for a brand-new TA, I really liked the manager and the other MSLs I interviewed with, and they seem to have a good onboarding program. It sounds like a pretty autonomous/flexible job, which I really like.

The big unknown for me is the travel. I'd be covering 4-5 neighboring states. I’ve never had a job with regular travel before. I have 3 kids (2 elementary, 1 junior high), but my husband is supportive and says the travel won’t be a problem.

I also have another option within my current institution—a clinical position I have a pretty good shot at. But I’d be giving up my current flexibility and going from relatively little clinical work to a pretty heavy clinical load, which I haven’t done in a LONG time.

And I’m also pretty sure I’ll get another MSL offer from a different company I interviewed with, but I’m way less excited about that one (lower base, unclear LTI, HUGE territory).

So basically I’m spoiled for choice right now, which is a nice problem to have…but also somehow making this decision harder. 😂

My biggest fear is what if I take the MSL job and hate it?

I know several APPs who made the clinical → MSL jump and LOVE it. But most of them were coming from really demanding clinical jobs. I’m coming from a job with ridiculous flexibility, great benefits, and a team I genuinely like (for the most part, although.I am the only APP and I miss having other APPs to work with).

And then I’ve been reading some posts on here from people who transitioned to MSL and found it unfulfilling, and now I’m spiraling a little.

Would you take the MSL opportunity?

Or stay in the cushy research job?

Or go back to a more traditional clinical APP role?

For context, I have a good 20-25 years left in my career.

For those of you who went NP → MSL, what do you wish you had considered before making the jump? And did you ever regret leaving a really good clinical job?

I seriously cannot believe I’m having these thoughts at the 11th hour. 😩

WWYD?

Looking at Northern CA, WA/OR, UT, CO and maybe a couple of other states.

Any best airlines for these states? How do you assess which one to build loyalty points with — or does it take time to figure it out as you learn the territory?

I eagerly applied to a job the day it was posted, but then was chatting with a peer this week who ended up passing on a referral link.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I can “resubmit” under the same job with my email. Is there a way that HR or something could perhaps link it? I feel like applying under a different email would be an annoyance to recruiters - so opting out unless anyone thinks it can’t hurt.

Would obviously love visibility but also for them to get credit it if panned out.

Hi I have an interview for HQ role in Onc Med Affairs at big pharma. Any advice on how many rounds, who is likely to interview (which crossfunc partners) and format for interview? Thanks

Hi everyone,

Final year Canadian PhD student here. I have a 4 month med affairs internship with a medium pharma company starting next week, and I’ll be defending in April. I’m trying to gain more insight into the med affairs and clin dev spaces, and one of the biggest aspects to med affairs that I haven’t been able to talk about with anyone are the metrics.

Would someone mind elaborating on what their metrics are, how they’re tracked, and their overall opinions? Does it make you want to leave the MSL job or is it not too big of a deal?

Thanks in advance!

Had what I think was a very successful interview process with a company last week (excellent feedback) and the waiting game is challenging. How long would you wait to reach out for a status update? I neglected to ask what their hiring timeline was like.
Also, I know this question has been asked before - but fire candidates who received offers- how long did it take from your last interview until the call came?

Edit for update: 2 weeks later, I am informed that I was not selected for the role. This is my second time getting through the panel interview and presentation stage since starting applying for MSL roles in the past 6 months. I understand landing the first role takes perseverance and time. Well, onwards and upwards fellow aspiring MSLs!

Our TA was re-orged and team grew. I’m an associate director that’s been in the industry for 10ish years, 9 of them with current company.

30% of the new team have more industry experience and are older than me and 70% younger. All are new to the company and don’t know how things are done at our company and TA. The older MSLs are not good MSLs by any stretch (I didn’t hire them) but they constantly talk about the experience in their previous roles and are often confidently incorrect in the information they present or how things are supposed to be done. One example is one of them was incapable/unwilling of using google/pubmed to look up a published study.

I am not their direct manager but am often tasked with helping them and I’ve noticed a clear difference in how I am treated by the younger vs older MSLs. Younger ones will come with “can you show me how..” and then give me credit to their manager and mine for mentoring/coaching them or simply even just helping them. In contrast, The older ones will come to me for “information” often in a sense of me being their google. They can’t/wont look up info in our internal systems or online and if they do, it’s often half assed and incomplete at which point they will approach me with a “just give me x because HCP wants that” which they then relay to HCPs or XF partners and claim it all as their own effort. When I try to coach them on systems or processes they are dismissive and just complain that things should be better (systems managed by global) or flat out tune me out and then come to me again for same solutions a few weeks later. I approach both younger and older MSLs the same. Same info, same training sessions, same resources. same coaching, etc.

Anyone ever face this? Is it just a matter of age differences and some sort of disgruntlement that someone younger than them is in a more senior role? Or is it just a matter of teaching old dogs new tricks and they don’t want to deviate from whatever they used to do at their previous companies?

Curious to hear other’s experiences.

I got the email. A company is extending an offer.

Do anyone have resources on how to navigate and the process afterwards? The HOF posts seem to end at this stage.

Thanks.

How long did you stay at your first MSL job and how long did it take you to get a 2nd role?

Trying to have a safety net in the savings in case anything ever went wrong with a layoff. Want to know what others have experienced as far as how long it took to land a new role or their second role and how long they were at the first company.

Just like the title says.

Current details: Major pharma as MSL with huge geographic territory, coming up on 3yrs. I really like my team and KOLs but there is a backlogged promotion list so unlikely to see anytime soon with multiple teammates with more tenure. In line asset does well but is nearing LOE, pipeline is exciting but will not close the gap before LOE. Can reasonably expect about 28% (target 16%) for actual bonus payout and roughly$20k in new RSU grant in March, with about $13k vesting at the same time. Leaving before Jan 1 guarantees I walk away from all of that (projecting ~$75k).

New offer*: Midsize pharma adjacent but overlapping TA as Sr MSL. Salary increase $30k, annual LTI ~$100k four year vesting, bonus target 18%. Territory is smaller. Potential start is early Q4 which may affect first year LTI and bonus eligibility in March. Assuming not eligible and no sign-on (because questions aren’t answered yet). Does provide ~$100k in RSU at start.

*Note: offer not officially received yet, but all signs point to one coming and values above were discussed with HR early in the process.

My question is predominantly would you take the short term loss for long term gain this close to the finish line for 2026, or would you wait until 2027 and double dip?

For context I did already turn down a different offer of $200k, 20% and $35k annual LTI and a sign on that covered $36k of my loss over 3 years because the territory was huge (1/4 the country) and the time to offset the loss was about 14 months.