April 17, 2026
Medical Affairs (MA) sits at a critical intersection of R&D and commercial strategies within pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations. MA professionals hold a unique, trusted position as unbiased subject matter experts for all healthcare stakeholders. As someone with an advanced research background who transitioned into communications, I have always recognized the important role of MA professionals, so attending the MAPS Americas 2026 conference via GCI Health’s Outside Impact program was an incredible opportunity.
My goal? To explore how we, as communications professionals can help bridge the growing need for MA to engage earlier and more effectively with commercial teams — a collaboration that has historically been hindered by MA’s emphasis on objectivity, regulatory restrictions and ethical responsibilities. My insights from MAPS revealed two key priorities for MAs that open the door to invaluable strategic partnerships:
1. Medical Affairs Professionals Seek New Metrics To Redefine Value
A central theme at MAPS was the urgent need to redefine value in healthcare, moving beyond a volume-driven model. As Dr. Susanna Gallani highlighted in her keynote, “What gets measured, gets prioritized,” yet our current “sick care system” relies on episodic metrics that fail to capture comprehensive, long-term patient well-being. This imperative extends to MA professionals themselves, who are eager to better articulate their value beyond activity-based KPIs like the number of HCP visits, especially given the complex, multi-factorial nature of product adoption.
What it means for healthcare: As strategic communicators, we are continuously refining how we measure “success” to demonstrate meaningful impact in our industry. By collaborating with MA teams within pharma and biotech organizations, we can fill the gap, helping them develop robust, outcomes-based metrics that genuinely reflect MA’s strategic contributions.
2. Medical Affairs Professionals Embrace AI — With a Call for Responsible Governance
The pervasive question, “Will AI replace us?” resonated deeply at MAPS. For Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs), the clear answer emerged: “AI will never replace an MSL, but MSLs who use AI will replace MSLs who do not.” MAPS emphasized that responsible AI integration is paramount, requiring strict governance to: (1) protect patient data privacy, (2) guard against fragmentation and bias by ensuring high-quality inputs, and (3) guarantee human oversight. These guardrails and concerns are certainly not new to healthcare communicators; we regularly operate with robust AI governance practices, continually refining them as new knowledge emerges.
What it means for healthcare: Deep expertise and guidance in defining safe and effective AI use is an invaluable asset for partnering with and advising MA teams that are grappling with integrating these technologies. By combining strategic and technical AI capabilities with extensive regulatory expertise, communicators can collaborate with MA to guide future policymaking, benefiting patients, providers and payers across the industry.
The Takeaway
My time at MAPS confirmed a crucial truth: the future of healthcare communications hinges on collaboration. Beyond seeing how healthcare communicators can support MA, I gained invaluable insights into behavioral psychology for HCP engagement, and effective strategies for connecting with KOLs, DOLs, and even emerging “virtual opinion leaders (VOLs).”
The opportunity is clear: MA professionals are ready for deeper collaboration with the commercial side — they just need trusted partners to help navigate the complexities. Partnerships that deliver a combination of expertise in strategic communications, AI integration and understanding human behavior can serve as a trusted bridge, fostering powerful alliances that ultimately benefit patients and drive industry-wide impact.
By Breanna Symmes, Vice President, Science Writer, GCI Health