So you’ve been in the field of medicine for a few years as a practicing clinician. You’re unsure where to take your career next. Have you considered becoming a medical advisor? Depending on your skillset and qualifications, you might find it fulfilling.
What do medical advisors do, and what do you need to become one? Let’s examine that in closer detail.
What Medical Advisors Do
In simplest terms, medical advisors give medical advice to non-medical institutions. In the corporate world, they will assist with clinical trials of any drug or medical product. They’ll partner with marketing or business expansion teams, like MedWorld Advisors, to create ad copy compliant with legal statutes.
Medical advisors to businesses also work closely with legal teams to ensure all the licenses required for product distribution have been obtained. They keep all information about the company’s medical products up to date. They may even conduct their own market research to partner with R&D for future product developments.
In creative settings, medical advisors provide film and TV crews valuable insight into certain conditions and injuries. If a medical drama wants a reputation for accuracy, they’ll have a medical advisor or three on staff. Given the reach that these dramas have, preventing myths and misinformation can be crucial.
Medical advisors also work hand in hand with advocacy groups. Especially those who champion understanding and treatment for disabilities and medical conditions. It would be embarrassing and a cause of lost trust if an advocacy group for MS, for example, distributed pamphlets with medically inaccurate information about the condition.
Above, we briefly touched on the interaction between medical and legal professionals in the corporate world. However, they have an important role to play in the legal sphere itself. Medical advisors get called on by both civil and criminal lawyers to serve as expert witnesses in their cases.
What Medical Advisors Need
The first barrier to entry for the medical advisor career field is a degree in medicine. Most postings for medical advisors require several years of experience practicing medicine. If you have published work, research case involvement, and a history of conference presentations, so much the better.
If the team works with a specialized field of medicine like neurology or obstetrics, then they’ll need a medical expert from that field.
The skills most medical advisors require will include:
- Top-notch communication skills
- An understanding of marketing and development
- Proactivity
- Leadership abilities
- Negotiation skills
Want to Become a Medical Advisor?
This career path might suit you well if you’ve been feeling stalled out in clinical care. If you have a knack for business or law, strong leadership skills, and the ability to negotiate, it might be the right path for you. Whether in law, business, or media, medical advisors serve an important role, and you would still help many people.
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