Medical writer vs medical science liaison

The differences between medical writers and medical science liaisons can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a medical writer, becoming a medical science liaison takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a medical science liaison has an average salary of $145,718, which is higher than the $93,842 average annual salary of a medical writer.

The top three skills for a medical writer include medical writing, patients and clinical research. The most important skills for a medical science liaison are patients, medical affairs, and MSL.

Medical writer vs medical science liaison overview

	Medical Writer	Medical Science Liaison
Yearly salary	$93,842	$145,718
Hourly rate	$45.12	$70.06
Growth rate	6%	17%
Number of jobs	59,516	57,208
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age	46	41
Years of experience	2	4

What does a medical writer do?

As the name entails, medical writers produce technical, educational, promotional, and technical content. They typically work with physicians, scientists, and subject matter experts to produce documentation that defines product usage and research results. Their duties and responsibilities may vary, but they perform some common tasks, including developing documentation related to clinical trials, creating monographs, and developing promotional materials. Medical writers are also responsible for creating grant proposals, writing newspaper and magazine articles, and creating presentations for conferences.

What does a medical science liaison do?

A medical science liaison (MSL) is a scientific professional who facilitates a working relationship between healthcare companies and leading physicians, researchers, and clinicians. Also referred to as key opinion leaders (KOL), medical science liaisons represent their company to the decision-makers in the medical community as well as to investors and government regulatory agencies. They analyze clinical trends and monitor the scientific literature for new developments in the medical community. Medical science liaisons also prepare medical samples and data to investigate the causes of chronic diseases, pathogens, and toxicity.

Medical writer vs medical science liaison salary

Medical writers and medical science liaisons have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Writer	Medical Science Liaison
Average salary	$93,842	$145,718
Salary range	Between $63,000 And $137,000	Between $59,000 And $359,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Jackson, TN
Highest paying state	Virginia	Tennessee
Best paying company	Biogen	Saint Luke's Health System
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between medical writer and medical science liaison education

There are a few differences between a medical writer and a medical science liaison in terms of educational background:

	Medical Writer	Medical Science Liaison
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common major	Biology	Nursing
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Medical writer vs medical science liaison demographics

Here are the differences between medical writers' and medical science liaisons' demographics:

	Medical Writer	Medical Science Liaison
Average age	46	41
Gender ratio	Male, 33.6% Female, 66.4%	Male, 41.6% Female, 58.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 23.4% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	11%	8%

Differences between medical writer and medical science liaison duties and responsibilities

Medical writer example responsibilities.

Develop network of science contacts at NASA to inform stories and generate new leads.
Manage, and assist in the recruiting activities of, CRO resources preparing regulatory documents on behalf of APGD.
Create and maintain account profiles for contributors, including writing of biographies, gathering headshots, and creating and managing accounts.
Create manuscripts, abstracts, and PowerPoint slide decks for a prominent pharmaceutical client.
Prepare CSRs, IB updates, protocols, protocol amendments, and statistical analysis plans.
Draft scientific content for abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and slide presentations (CNS )

Medical science liaison example responsibilities.

Supervise and analyze medical necessity review of manage care appeals.
Develop and manage KOLs resulting in presentations to regional, national and international meetings.
Utilize extensive knowledge of medical terminology, ICD-9, HCPCS and CPT coding along with analysis and processing of Medicare claims.
Provide pre-launch field support for a novel diabetes compound.
Provide drug information to medical professionals and sales force within FDA guidelines.
Join Clementine as a trainee BMS and successfully complete training and registration.

Medical writer vs medical science liaison skills

Common medical writer skills

Medical Writing, 11%
Patients, 8%
Clinical Research, 6%
Clinical Study Reports, 6%
Literature Searches, 5%
FDA, 5%

Common medical science liaison skills

Patients, 11%
Medical Affairs, 9%
MSL, 7%
Medical Science, 6%
Pharmaceutical Industry, 5%
Internal Stakeholders, 4%

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Medical Writer vs Medical Science Liaison

Updated January 8, 2025

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