If you’re familiar with the financial sector, earning an MBA or becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) can significantly improve your career. For pharmacists, the Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) program can distinguish you among your peers. Board certified medical affairs professionals are rapidly becoming the industry standard for life sciences professionals.

Within the pharmaceutical industry, medical affairs has seen tremendous growth; expanding over 300% in the last 10 years according to experts in the field. With the shift towards specialty drugs, rare diseases, orphan indications, biologics & biosimilars, this growth will likely continue as health care providers (HCPs) demand more in depth explanations for drug mechanisms, underlying pathophysiology and pharmacology.

The Doctorate Degree is Only the First Step

MD, PharmD, and PhD professionals are the ideal folks to provide this information given their background. Nevertheless, few doctoral or clinical training programs provide the comprehensive training needed for many of the challenges that medical affairs professionals might face. The Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA) provides that specialized online training known as the Board Certified Medical Affairs Specialist (BCMAS) program.

An online, self-paced program, the Board Certified Medical Affairs Specialist program is available to MD, PharmD, and PhD professionals who either want to get into the pharmaceutical industry or want to take their medical affairs careers to the next level.

Could the BCMAS become the industry standard for medical affairs? It may very well likely become the next CFA or BCPS for medical affairs professionals looking to demonstrate a higher level of professional credibility, knowledge, training, and dedication to the medical affairs specialization.

So the next time you are asked to help design an effective HEOR study or address regulatory questions from the FDA, becoming a Board Certified Medical Affairs Specialist could prove useful.