First and foremost, both roles involve advising clients in the healthcare sector on communication issues. This means we support companies in strategically positioning themselves and their products through measures like media relations, congress activities, or digital communication. As a Science Consultant, I usually work more in scientific contexts than my colleagues. Practically, this means I primarily help our clients convey medical-scientific content in their communication clearly and precisely.
From my perspective, it’s particularly helpful to have a scientific background and be able to quickly grasp medical publications and drug approval studies. This goes hand-in-hand with the ability to rapidly familiarize oneself with new subject areas and to distinguish ‘important’ from ‘unimportant’ information. As a consultant, it is also crucial to process and tailor this information for different target groups so that even complex facts can be communicated as simply as possible. Accuracy is vital, but without getting lost in the details. In daily client interactions, a degree of empathy is also beneficial to understand the challenges faced by both clients and target groups and to develop appropriate solutions.
For me, supporting medical-scientific congresses is particularly exciting. I genuinely enjoy scrutinizing scientific abstracts for our clients, evaluating newly published data, and then preparing this information in various formats such as presentations, factsheets, posters, or press releases. I love working with scientific data and enjoy contemplating how and where we can meaningfully and strategically deploy new analyses for our communication.
I found the implementation of a digital project especially interesting. The goal was to present diverse information for a drug in a multimedia format on a digital physician platform. We attractively compiled videos, text, and graphics. The exciting part is that we can digitally track the platform’s usage, continuously expand the portal, and accurately monitor what works well and what doesn’t.
As a Science Consultant, you are the expert for all study data. Depending on the team, this applies to various disease areas and medical products. My task is to maintain an overview of scientific data and integrate this knowledge into client consultations. Clients expect solutions from us on how medical knowledge can be presented in the best possible way. It’s not uncommon for us to work closely with medical experts on the client side, in addition to marketing and PR contacts. Furthermore, I am the point of contact for specialist publishers and medical journalists when it comes to scientifically oriented publications. In my teams, I otherwise provide support wherever help is needed. This ranges from project management and concept creation to event support.
Scientific expertise is extremely important in healthcare communication consulting. It allows us to understand the often highly complex matters, such as the mechanisms of action of drugs or the evaluation of clinical data, in detail. This, in turn, is essential for us to be able to convey these topics clearly and meaningfully for our clients. Primarily, we create communication aimed at physicians and patients. Whether for a specialist or a layperson – communication messages are successful when they present themselves understandably and attractively to the target group.
