Digital and AI were hot topics underpinning many of the conversations at the DIA’s Medical Affairs and Scientific Communications (DIA MASC) forum I attended in March 2025, along with a focus on how we can utilize these tools to achieve impactful, engaging, and scientifically accurate communications that resonate with healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients.
Along with the opening keynote address, “Bridging the Gap: Transforming Complex Science into Impactful Digital Public Health Communications” with Jessica Steier, DrPH, PMP, Founder and Host of Unbiased Science, I attended several sessions addressing themes that align with the Cactus Life Sciences mission, providing insights into how we can achieve our goals.
Here’s a summary of my learnings:
The transformative potential of AI and generative AI (GenAI) in MedComms is clear
“We have to talk about experiences (not use cases). We will continue to see pockets of people who are secret cyborgs. We will continue to see generalists who are bridging the dialogue with the specialists/data scientists.”
– Jennifer Ghith, Senior Director, Channel Integration and Innovation Lead, Global Scientific Communications, GSK
The healthcare industry is moving from pilots and proofs of concept to AI agents. Content development and insights generation are among the hottest applications, with AI optimizing stakeholder experiences while ensuring ethical, responsible, and sustainable solutions, keeping patient centricity at the forefront. Whether AI will add efficiencies or act as a coworker is still to be seen. Whatever route we take, workflows will undoubtedly change, and those who adopt these tools will outpace those who don’t.
Omnichannel engagement should focus on physician-centric metrics
“We have a ton of data and a ton of science being communicated to the same HCPs. How do we transform our engagement models instead of one and done every 6 months to seamless engagement?”
– Jones Jaick, MBA, ZS Associates
Transforming medical communications requires a shift from sporadic interactions to seamless, ongoing engagements with HCPs. Omnichannel engagement, managed by a matrix organization, should focus on physician-centric metrics that measure changes in practice and sentiment, instead of channel metrics. Motivation is key for grassroots mobilization, with Medical Affairs teams offering internal stewardship and serving as a sandbox for omnichannel projects. Success indicators include physician sentiment and closing care gaps, with leading indicators focusing on physician awareness and sentiment.
Social media has revolutionized communication strategies
“The most compelling scientific stories are not just accurate; they are alive.”
– Jessica Steier, DrPH, PMP
Social media has changed the game, but it remains a double-edged sword. Effective communication begins by meeting people where they are, not where we think they should be. We need to embrace creative communication strategies to generate impactful health communications.
Digital technologies can support patients in providing unbiased medical information
Supporting patients with good quality, unbiased medical information is crucial, especially because many patients seek medical information before receiving a prescription. Finding ways to directly reach patients with medical information using digital technologies is gaining traction. The panel highlighted the benefits of patient/carer disease state websites for gathering patient feedback, fostering a sense of community and ownership. Embracing more visual communications, such as infographics, for explaining disease state and clinical study information will help simplify information.
Insights are currency in Medical Affairs
“Are efforts to build a medical insights process worth the squeeze?”
– Jim Wilkinson, PhD, US Medical Affairs Lead (Immunology & Payer), Medical Affairs & Evidence Generation, Argenx, United States
Efforts to build a medical insights workflow are worth the squeeze as they can help shed light on the patient healthcare ecosystem (e.g., what is the patient’s relationship with the disease) and help understand the gaps that slow down the implementation of evidence into practice. This links back to the value and impact of Medical Affairs as a whole. The integration of AI tools into insights workflows allows us to focus on signals from across data sources and remove noise. Models can be trained to identify the top insights and weighed according to criteria such as recency. Having the right, structured data and building transparency so everyone can see how their data impact the insights is key.
The takeaway
AI is here to stay—and it’s just getting started. Its role in transforming medical communications is not just about automation, but amplification of insight, impact, and innovation. For Medical Affairs teams willing to lead the charge, AI offers a powerful opportunity to reimagine how science connects with those who need it most.
Note: This article was generated using Microsoft Copilot with human supervision.
Yukti Bharwani
Associate Vice President, Medical and Scientific Services