Medical Science Liaison Professionals Often Earn Six-Figure Salaries

The Medical Science Liaison (MSL) profession may only be 40 years old, but MSL teams are continuing to establish themselves and expand their roles in the biopharmaceutical industry. Hiring managers and corporate staffing consultants are challenged with a limited competitive pool of experienced MSL candidates, while research scientists, medical doctors, and pharmacists are competing to enter the biopharmaceutical industry and into this field-based medical profession.


Medical Science Liaison Institute (MSL Institute) conducted two independent and anonymous surveys to prospectively collect information on the current state of compensating medical science liaisons. These surveys were made available on Medical Science Liaison Institute's network (MSL-IQ) websites, as well as to over 1200 members of MSL Institute's proprietary mailing list. Data was collected over a 3-month period.

According to MSL Institute's surveys, more than half of medical science liaisons with less than 2 years of experience report earning a base salary of $100,000 to less than $125,000. Medical science liaisons with 2 to 5 years of MSL experience report to earning a similar range, although their base salaries may trend toward the higher end of the $100,000 to $125,000 range. As these field medical professionals gain tenure beyond 5 years, it is not unusual for seasoned MSL professionals to earn $125,000 or more.

"In the past few years we have seen an increase in the base salary of medical science liaisons with less than two years of experience," said Dr. Jane Chin, Ph.D., President of Medical Science Liaison Institute and author of the Medical Science Liaison Salary Survey Report. "Many companies use base compensation as a means to attract and retain experienced candidates. Industry-naive professionals who enter the MSL profession are benefiting from this salary trend."

Because of an attractive six-figure pay that has recently attracted media attention, Dr. Chin cautions prospective candidates to thoroughly research what the field medical science liaison role truly represents.

"This is not a 'science-only' position," said Dr. Chin, "these professionals are employed to fulfill specific business objectives through scientific means. Medical science liaisons are one avenue of scientific representation for a biopharmaceutical company, but MSLs are not there just to 'talk science' , but to help their companies achieve clinical-based business objectives that ultimately affect healthcare standards." Dr. Chin has seen an increasing focus by pharmaceutical companies to measure MSL value with numbers-driven metrics, an trend that many MSL professionals view as controversial.

The 2006-2007 Medical Science Liaison Salary Survey Report is useful for MSL program directors and corporate staffing consultants to aid in compensation benchmarking to best compete for a limited talented pool of medical science liaisons. The report contains data that covers Medical Science Liaison Tenure and Associated Base Salaries, Therapeutic Areas of MSL Employment, MSL Educational Background by Tenure, Medical Science Liaison Employer Types, Medical Science Liaison Target Bonus, and MSL Compensation by Therapeutic Area. The report is available through the MSL Institute store at MSLMARKETPLACE.COM.


A new 2007-2008 Medical Science Liaison Salary Survey will open on September 1, 2007 at website MSLSALARY.COM.


Medical Science Liaison Institute focuses on serving and advocating for field-based MSL professionals, and is an industry source for continuing MSL education and MSL program research initiatives.