23. How Medical Affairs Professionals Can Build Their AI Skills

In this episode of the OnPoint Podcast, Scott sits down with Nandini Sabharwal, Field Medical Director at Pfizer, to explore how Medical Affairs teams can move past the hype and start building real, practical AI skills. Drawing from her experience as a clinical pharmacist and MSL, Nandini shares how using AI first in everyday life creates confidence, fluency, and momentum that directly translate into work. The conversation focuses on how teams can start now, stay compliant, and use AI to expand, not replace, their impact.

Nandini is a seasoned Medical Science Liaison with over five years of Medical Affairs experience spanning various therapeutic areas. She spearheads the Internal Medicine Field Medical AI workstream, focusing on initiatives that bridge AI innovation with field medical operations, such as using AI to enhance medical engagement and insight generation. She is an enthusiastic pioneer of integrating AI in customer-facing teams, emphasizing the importance of upskilling, democratization of AI skills, and cross-functional collaboration with other field teams for AI advocacy.

Connect with Nandini on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nandini-sabharwal/

[00:00] Why AI Is Becoming a Core Skill in Medical Affairs

[01:30] Why MSLs Are Already Equipped to Use AI Effectively

[04:10] Using Personal AI Use Cases to Build Confidence and Fluency

[11:20] Safe and Compliant AI Use in Pharma and Medical Affairs

[18:30] How NotebookLM and LLMs Accelerate Scientific Learning

[24:10] Practical AI Workflows for MSLs: Planning, Insights, and Efficiency

[34:50] Expanding Medical Affairs Impact with AI Without Losing the Human Element