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Sophocles's avatar

OK. I’m a former senior pharma exec. This guy was not in research. He won’t have published any papers.

He was in product strategy, which is essentially working out how to allocate capital across your portfolio (in studies, marketing, launches or M&A). These people have an overview of what’s happening in R&D but never do any R or D.

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2nd Smartest Guy in the World's avatar

Thanks for the comment.

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Peter Nayland Kust's avatar

In fact, there is a Jordon Walker from the Dept of Urology at UT Southwestern in Dallas with several published papers.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28117384/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27601966/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27601966/

Using the recruiting search tool SignalHire, there is a profile for one Jordon Walker with the associated title at Pfizer with a prior career posting at the Dept of Urology at UT-Southwestern (it's where he complete medical school)

https://newsletter.allfactsmatter.us/p/pfizer-doc-said-the-quiet-part-out

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JWM_IN_VA's avatar

Understood...but why they need an MD foe that?

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Dan's avatar

Also in this space, there is no shortage of MDs in marketing and in marketing adjacent roles. From conversations with people over the years, they just don't like being in medicine as much, but lean into what they know. Luckily companies play plenty and even have it as basically a prerequisite for roles like being a MSL.

For an example, if you search for job postings in pharma for director level, anything more senior, and medical roles an MD is almost a requirement. Though PhD and Masters can also pass.

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Sophocles's avatar

They don’t. But you’ll find MDs aplenty in marketing, strategy, trial design, investment banking, equity research, consulting ....lots of people train as physicians and then discover patients are icky and get a nice job in front of a computer.

Other people in these strategy roles are scientists (who don’t like labs), former equity analysts & bankers & consultants.

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SAMO's avatar

Makes sense. Thx.

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rajm2's avatar

That makes him a decisionmaker

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JWM_IN_VA's avatar

No, wrong demeaner.

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