Inside Fierce Pharma Engage: Cross-Functional Buzz, Bold Ideas, and One Missing Conversation
It started with the lanyards.
This year, Fierce Pharma brought something new to the table. One big, cross-functional event: Fierce Pharma Engage. Instead of splitting Medical Affairs, Commercial, PR & Comms, and BD&L into separate silos, they brought everyone together under one roof. And to help us keep track, they handed out lanyards by color. Orange for Medical Affairs. Blue, purple and red for the others.
What surprised me, in a good way, was how many Medical Affairs folks were dipping into other tracks. And vice versa. I spotted some blue and purple lanyards in my AI in Action session, which was a great sign that people were curious and crossing the usual lines.
There were tons of chances to connect, too. Receptions (check out the photo of the dessert spread that Tom Caravela took 🤤), meals, coffee breaks and because we were all in the same space, it was easier than usual to run into someone new and actually talk. We were also looking for our tribe though. One lady saw me at a networking reception and said, “Oh good, another orange.”
Keep reading for my take on Fierce Pharma Engage. I’m sharing the core theme that showed up again and again, the highlights that stood out, and one important conversation that never quite made it on stage but should have.
Fierce Pharma Engage 2025: Sessions That Delivered
The content? Top-notch. Wide-ranging but focused. This wasn’t high-level fluff. These were practical, forward-looking sessions on:
→ What to do when you’re building a team with no budget
→ How Medical Affairs can level up in evidence generation and clinical trials
→ Omnichannel without the buzzword baggage
→ And an HCP influencer, Adam Goodcoff, who broke down what it really takes to build trust online
The sessions felt honest and grounded. The kind that sparks follow-up ideas on the flight home.
The Thread That Tied It All Together: Influence
While the topics varied, one theme kept coming back: influence.
Not the kind you measure with likes or followers, but the kind that gets things done across teams. Whether you’re trying to align on trial strategy or coordinate stakeholder outreach, Medical Affairs has to influence laterally, upward, and outward. It’s not about control. It’s about credibility, clarity, and partnership.
Rebecca Vermeulen’s keynote hit a nerve. She challenged the audience to move from “patient centricity” to true patient inclusivity, noting that inviting patients to review a protocol after it’s finalized isn’t inclusive, it’s too late. She even proposed using AI to help validate the patient lens. A smart, strategic use case for Medical Affairs to own.
→ Storytelling also came up several times with it’s own dedicated roundtable. This was the hero of MASS West 2024.
What No One Talked About
Here’s the one thing I wish someone had brought up that is a huge problem impacting Medical Affairs’ ability to show value:
► The fact that everyone wants to “own the HCP relationship.”
While many sessions emphasized Medical Affairs “owning the HCP relationship” and being the trusted cross-functional connector, no one addressed the real friction this creates internally.
Everyone wants the relationship. Sales. Clinical. Access. Medical.
When every team thinks they “own the customer,” it gets messy. Without clarity, collaboration becomes competition and playing nice flies out the window.
That’s where strategic influence becomes a superpower. Not the loudest voice, but the clearest one. Not just showing up, but aligning people around a shared goal. It’s why we created our Influence Lab Team Training (contact me for details), to help teams lead collaboratively and effectively in exactly these situations.
Fierce Pharma Engage 2025: Final Take
The topics were bold. The sessions were strong. The energy felt in flux. People were in and out. Some rushed to meetings. Others ducked out after their talk. But the ones who stayed? They leaned in.
And in a time where Medical Affairs is being asked to lead more, guide more, and influence more, that’s exactly what we need: more leaning in. More cross-functional awareness. And more open conversations about the real challenges we face behind the buzzwords.
If you attended, share your thoughts! What did you think?
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