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When a Field Medical organization grows to 12 MSL teams across seven therapeutic areas, each team tends to develop its own way of working. Without shared processes and metrics, senior leadership ends up reviewing a different dashboard for every team.

In this episode of OnPoint: The Medical Excellence Podcast, Scott Thompson talks with Lori Long (Sanofi) about her move from leading a US field medical team to a newly created US Field Medical Excellence role in Specialty Care. Field Medical Excellence is the function that builds the shared processes, metrics, tools, and training that field medical teams use to operate consistently across an organization. Lori explains why Sanofi created the role, how she balances consistency with therapeutic area flexibility, how she coordinates 12 MSL teams and the payer field team, how she partners with global Medical Excellence, and what she looks for in people moving into this work. For a companion read, see our article Medical Excellence Across Field Teams: Insights from Sanofi. If you're standing up Medical Excellence in a large organization, start here.

Key Takeaways

• Standardize the foundation, then customize. Lori explains that "if our foundation and our KPIs and some of the core things that we do every day are at least consistent or have a solid foundation, then you can really customize to the needs of your therapeutic area."
• One dashboard, with room to tailor. Sanofi is consolidating separate field medical dashboards into a single view where "80 percent of the teams, the dashboard is similar, but 20 percent you can tweak" for each therapeutic area. The industry faces the same gap: in a 2026 Medical Science Liaison Society survey of 1,023 Medical Affairs professionals, 43% cited a lack of standardized metrics across the industry as a challenge in measuring MSL performance (Dyer et al., Cureus, 2026).
• Stay connected at every level of the field. Lori runs a senior director forum and an MSL advisory council with representation from every therapeutic area. She also works with field directors and field trainers. Her guiding question: "how can I make their lives easier?"
• Match the path to how developed the idea is. When a therapeutic area brings a well-planned idea, her answer is "go for it, go pilot it and then we'll roll it out to the rest of the organization if it comes out successful." Less developed ideas get pitched on senior field director calls, with volunteers from each therapeutic area.
• Lead change by explaining the why. "If folks don't understand the why, then it's really hard for them to implement that change." Her approach is to try what is asked, "take notes along the way," and then offer suggestions for improvement.
• Field experience and trust make the transition work. On moving from field medical into Medical Excellence, Lori says, "I know their world." She adds, "trust is key to really any relationship," and names the ability to "create consistency, but yet don't stifle innovation."

About Our Guest

Lori Long, PharmD is US Field Medical Excellence Lead, Specialty Care, at Sanofi. At the time of this recording, she had spent 25 years at Sanofi, all in field medical. She started in the General Medicines business unit on the diabetes side before moving to Specialty Care, beginning in rare blood disorders. She has served as an MSL, a field director, and a senior director for an MSL team. In her current role, she supports 12 MSL teams across seven therapeutic areas, along with the medical value and outcomes (payer) field team.

Connect with Lori on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-long-pharmd-95349218

FAQ

What does a Field Medical Excellence lead do?
In Lori Long's US Specialty Care role at Sanofi, the Field Medical Excellence lead builds consistency and efficiency across field medical teams. That includes harmonizing KPIs, dashboards, data entry, and SOPs, sharing best practices between therapeutic areas, helping teams scale new ideas, and serving as a unified US field medical voice for the global Medical Excellence team.

How can Medical Excellence create consistency without stifling innovation?
Lori's approach is to standardize the foundation and leave room on top of it. Core KPIs, policies, and everyday processes stay consistent, while each therapeutic area customizes for its own needs. Her team is consolidating separate field medical dashboards into one, where roughly 80 percent is shared and 20 percent can be tailored by therapeutic area.

How does one Medical Excellence lead coordinate across 12 MSL teams?
Lori stays connected at several levels of the field organization. She runs a senior director forum for information sharing in both directions, an MSL advisory council with representation from every therapeutic area, and regular contact with field directors and field trainers to identify training and support needs.

Why is it hard to measure field medical performance consistently?
Measurement practices vary widely across the industry. In a Medical Science Liaison Society survey of 1,023 Medical Affairs professionals published in Cureus in 2026, 67% rated measuring MSL performance difficult or very difficult, 43% cited a lack of standardized metrics across the industry, and 38% cited variability in MSL roles across therapeutic areas. Lori's focus on consistent data entry and a shared dashboard is aimed at the same problem within one organization.

What makes someone a good fit to move from field medical into Medical Excellence?
Lori points to field experience first, since understanding MSL challenges firsthand makes it easier to fix them. She also names trust, the ability to bring teams together, and the ability to create consistency without stifling innovation. She sees digital capability, including generative AI tools, as an area to keep developing.

Want to talk through this with our team? We're here to help.

About OnPoint: The Medical Excellence Podcast

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.

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