Jane Chin – a voice of reason in the pharmacutical field

Jane Chin, PhD. is a champion of medical science liaison (MSL) integrity.

Medical science liaisons (MSLs) are therapeutic specialists who contribute to the competitive advantage of a pharmaceutical company by developing "relationship capital" for their organization. They are the equivalent of the high level analysts who perform technical sales support in certain high tech companies. Many of these PhDs are forced to walk a fine line between telling the truth and compromising their integrity to help the sales team.

A sales team can often see opportunity where there is no ethical basis for a deal. This is true in pharmaceuticals and it is also true in the electronics and software fields. It does not necessarily spring from greed, it’s usually the product of ignorance.

When sales people have already targeted one of these "opportunities", the technical support people can be put under great pressure to contribute to the sale, even in an off-specification or off-label application. If they have scruples, they get threatened with punishment for not being "team players".

The silver lining to this is that there are a lot of ethical MSLs out there and Jane’s company provides resources and training for MSLs who want to maintain personal and professional credibility. Read this article, Breaking Their Silence, about Jane Chin on meetingsnet.com.

Jane has an extraordinarily effective corporate website. You click on the links under the central image and Jane talks to you in a very personal and understandable way. If you are a consultant or provide a service that is based on presenting yourself, this is an incredible model of effective and personalized communication. I see this type of site as a model for the future. I want one…SOON!  🙂

Jane found me through a Google search for work life balance and we quickly discovered that we held similar views in that area. I sent her a copy of Danger Quicksand – Have A Nice Day and she did a marvelous review which is posted on her personal  weblog.

The following is an excerpt. You need to visit her site and read the entire review.

This is your warning. This will be one of the more cringe-inducing books you will read, and is the case for me. Chapter 4, "Preparing for Change" made me squirm: I was reading a "wreck-umentary" of my prior employment experiences. Many readers of this book felt the same, and I read quote after quote from readers who wondered if St. Lawrence had a camera set up at their companies. The corporate insanity that occurs on a daily basis appears to be a universal employment archetype rather than isolated incidents.

After seeing reference to "cold sweat" and "cringe-inducing" as the primary reaction to reading my book. I am beginning to wonder if there is a genre for "corporate horror novels comedies". 🙂