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 in integrating AI into customer-facing teams, emphasizing the importance of upskilling, the democratization of AI skills, and cross-functional collaboration with other field teams for AI advocacy.

In This Conversation, We Cover:

• Why AI adoption starts with skill-building, not enterprise platforms
• How personal use cases accelerate confidence and learning
• Where public AI tools are appropriate—and where company tools are required
• Practical Medical Affairs workflows supported by AI today

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

OnPoint: The Medical Excellence Podcast delivers insightful conversations on the most pressing issues facing top Medical Affairs professionals. Listen to stay ahead of industry trends and be inspired by leaders shaping the future of Medical Affairs.

OnPoint is available on several podcast platforms, including the Acceleration Point YouTube channel.

[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