Kim Kulda, AMICULUM USA

My path to the world of Medical Communications was not straightforward. In fact, for most of my career the concept of MedComms was non-existent. If someone had asked me what it was or what people do in a MedComms agency, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had an answer.

I started my career as a project manager in traditional healthcare agencies specializing in delivering customer experiences to attract, motivate, and engage audiences throughout the lifecycle of a brand. I was fortunate to get exposure to a variety of therapeutic areas and products, working with both US and global teams; I collaborated with strategists, market research, writers, creative, digital, and interactive groups, and client marketing teams. Coming up with the right creative and visual concept, marrying that to targeted messages, and delivering all of that through the right channel to reach audiences was challenging and fulfilling and even brought some award-winning achievements.

I was later offered a role as a brand lead at an in-house healthcare agency situated within a pharmaceutical company. This was an unusual set-up, but at the time some pharmaceutical companies had adopted the model of having promotional materials developed in-house to save costs and increase speed-to-market. It was then that I discovered many other types of roles within pharmaceutical companies as well as opportunities to leverage my promotional and marketing background. Most of my time was spent leading and collaborating with teams to deliver on strategic and tactical activities to reach HCPs, patients, caregivers and field sales force in a pre-launch or launch phase of a product, as well as managing brands as they matured in a post-launch setting. I also formed an in-house team to develop medical posters for US and global congresses. It was then that I developed an appreciation for the research and science that underpins the development of novel therapeutics to help patients. Looking back, this was a kind of foreshadowing for things to come in my future career.

Fast forward to my current position which brings all my collective skills and interests together nicely into my current role as an account director at AMICULUM. The MedComms world has offered me the opportunity to work with diverse client teams and to work closely with eminent healthcare professionals, patient groups, scientific leads and access teams that are at the forefront of medical advances. I have found this part of my career to be exciting and fast-paced, offering an enormous variety of projects to work on.

Working in MedComms requires determination, focus, and the ability to project manage, motivate teams, and deliver on client promises, especially when working under pressure.

I enjoy the mix of science, creativity and business, along with being fortunate to be part of a company that has a unique culture and positive work environment. I also enjoy interacting with our innovative teams, all of whom share a commitment to communicating the science and data behind new therapies to help patients faced with rare and serious diseases.