00;00;05;04 

MAPS 

Oh. Welcome to this episode of the Medical Affairs Professional Society podcast “Elevate”. The views expressed in this recording are those of the individuals, and do not necessarily reflect on the opinions of MAPS or the companies with which they are affiliated. This presentation is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or regulatory advice. And now for today’s “Elevate” episode. 

00;00;33;16 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Welcome back to the Medical Affairs Professional Society, Leadership and Management, the main podcast series on creating a culture of innovation in Medical Affairs. I’m Bagrat Lalayan, VP and Head of the Medical Affairs at the Legend Biotech, and I’m joined again by Matthew John Rice, Learning Architect Director at the Center for Scientific Exchange Excellence at the Merck Research Laboratories. In our first episode, we explored the mindset and environment behind innovation. Today, we are going to take the next step. How do we move from ideas to implementation? How do we build systems that make innovation repeatable, measurable, and scalable? Matthew, welcome back. 

00;01;20;10 

Matthew John Rice 

Thanks, Bagrat. Episode one established the why innovation matters today is about that how we can actually do it. Because great ideas are only as meaningful as our ability to convert them into real world value for patients, physicians, and the health care ecosystem. 

00;01;40;18 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Exactly, Matthew. Medical Affairs is uniquely positioned to innovate because we are at the intersection of science insights fueled engagement and evidence generation. But innovation doesn’t happened by accident. It requires structure. So let’s start here. How do organizations build a systematic approach to innovation rather than relying on moments of inspiration? 

00;02;10;10 

Matthew John Rice 

Well, the first step is to treat innovation as a process, not an event. This means that we intensely gather insights. We translate insights into hypothesis. We test those hypothesis and we learn from the outcome. It’s very similar to the scientific method. I often describe innovation as a cycle. Listen leads to imagine which leads to prototype which leads to learn, which leads to scale. This cycle should be visible, supported and expected across Medical Affairs teams. 

00;02;50;22 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Beautifully said. One misconception is that innovation requires big programs or major budget shifts. But many of the most impactful innovations in Medical Affairs begin as small experiments. For example, a new way to engage with a scientific leader. Or a different format for presenting clinical data, or a new touchpoint for patient insights. Which brings us to a key principle. Start small. Learn fast. 

00;03;23;08 

Matthew John Rice 

Exactly. I call these micro innovations. They reduce risk and accelerate learning, because you’re not trying to redesign the entire system at once. A micro innovation could be testing a new advisory board format that incorporates patient voice directly. Or it could be piloting a short form scientific video instead of a slide deck, or using a structured learning debrief after every field engagement cycle. When organizations normalize micro innovation, they build innovation fluency. 

00;04;03;03 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Matthew. I like micro innovations and all these examples. So let’s talk about enablers. What makes innovation actually work operationally? 

00;04;13;15 

Matthew John Rice 

Well, there are three major enablers. The first one. Governance that encourages experimentation. Governance should guide, not restrict clear boundaries with room for exploration. Enables innovation to thrive responsibly. Number two shared language. If one team says pilot and nerd team says test and the third team says initiative coordination becomes chaotic. Shared terminology makes learning transferable. And the third one is data and feedback loops. Innovation must be evaluated, not just performed. Measure learning and behavior change not only outcomes. 

00;04;59;21 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Yes I agree. And the last point is significant. Medical Affairs has traditionally measured activity. Right. Number of engagements. Publications. Actionable insights. But innovation is better measured by learning and impact. What changed because of this approach? How did physician understanding shift? How did patient clarity or confidence improve when organizations shift to impact based measurement? Innovation becomes strategic, not the creative. 

00;05;35;10 

Matthew John Rice 

Yes. We also must acknowledge something really important. Innovation requires collaboration across functions. Medical fairs cannot innovate effectively in isolation. We need field teams to provide insights. We need health economics outcomes research, and real world evidence teams to shape the value narratives. We need regulatory and legal partners to ensure compliance. And of course, we need the commercial teams to ensure consistency of voice. Innovation is distributed, not owned. 

00;06;11;26 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Well said. Now let’s bring this to life with a short example. Imagine a Medical Affairs team learning that oncologists are overwhelmed by lengthy PDFs summarizing new trial results instead of trying to redesign every communication channel. They could start with one micro pilot, create a 92nd clinical insight video summarizing the study outcome in plain language and test it with ten HCPs. Measure their understanding, retention, preferred formats. If it works, scale it. If it doesn’t, refine it. Either way you learned that is innovation in action. 

00;07;05;24 

Matthew John Rice 

Exactly. And that example highlights another principle. Innovation does not have to be complex. It has to be meaningful. When innovation reconnects us to the purpose, for example, supporting clinicians, patients and science, it sustains itself. 

00;07;26;09 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Thank you Matthew. And before we close, let’s leave listeners with our traditional three practical steps to operationalize innovation this month. 

00;07;37;04 

Matthew John Rice 

Absolutely. Practical starting steps. Number one. Launch one. Micro pilot. Pick a small project. Define a hypothesis and test it intentionally. Number two. Create a shared learning debrief template. After every pilot, ask, what do we try? What do we learn? What changes as a result? Number three. Make innovation a standing agenda item. If it’s not discussed, it’s not prioritized. Add innovation learnings to every team meeting. 

00;08;19;06 

Bagrat Lalayan 

That’s a clear and powerful roadmap. Innovation isn’t abstract. It’s built one intentional step at a time. Matthew, thank you for your insights and partnership in this journey. 

00;08;33;24 

Matthew John Rice 

Thank you. Bagrat. The future of Medical Affairs is collaborative, imaginative. Purpose driven. We are shaping it together. 

00;08;43;28 

Bagrat Lalayan 

Thank you, Matthew, and thank you to our listeners. This has been episode two of creating a Culture of Innovation in Medical Affairs with MAPS.