We are delighted to share another dynamic essay regarding Professional Identity prepared by a graduate of the Academy Medical Affairs course. Below is an essay written by Matteo Napoleone. We remain grateful to Matteo for being willing to share his insights about what Professional Identity in Medicines Development means to him.

“Discuss the development and status of your own Professional Identity, and what it means in terms of your job, your career, and future prospects.“

Matteo Napoleone is a Medical Doctor and works as Medical Scientific Relations Advisor in Rare Disease at Pfizer Italy. He joined Pfizer in January 2020 after 4 years’ experience in Diagnostic Radiology.

“To describe my journey and Professional Identity, I’d like to start with my medical degree, deciding to follow in my family’s footsteps and thinking that it was where I belonged. Over the years I realized I was on my way when someone pointed me out that when asked “tell me about yourself” my answer was always “Hi, I’m Matteo and I’m a doctor…”, showing how I fully recognized myself as a medical doctor and how proud of that I was. Years later, however, something changed, and the answer was no longer the same. During the residency program I realized that my professional certainties were less solid and that I needed a change. Reading Richard L. Cruess paper1, I think in part this was due to the fact that my medical education was much more focused on professionalism rather than the development of a Professional Identity. However, the turning point was a conversation with a Medical Affairs professional, who helped me to realize that all the experience I had gathered and what I had learned through study and practice would take me to Medical Affairs and that by working in Medicine Development, applying myself and believing in my work, I could continue to help many people. I loved this concept and immediately internalized it, and I started working in the Rare Disease BU of a company, with the desire to leave a mark.

My wealth of experiences, relationships, knowledge, skills, values and ethics were the pillars of my Professional Identity when I was a physician, and they are now that I’m a Medical Affairs professional but enriched with what I have been able to learn and experience in recent years. My ethics, strong empathy, trust in others, ability to communicate and tendency to socialize, are skills and qualities that I have honed over time, on which I have worked since my school/university career and with the experiences I have had, and that have allowed me to manage the change and perfectly fit in the new professional field.

Now Medical Affairs is changing and as reported in the McKinsey paper2 the evolution of Medical Affairs, with its new strategic role, will increasingly lead to a broader view of our role and tasks, with hopefully positive consequences for my path and my Professional Identity.

“The sense of belonging that comes from Professional Identity can lead to job satisfaction… ” (Rasmussen P et al.)3 and I am proud to say that at this point I am satisfied of my personal and professional life, regarding who I’m and what I do! I enjoy talking about my work, explaining my activities and I’m proud of what I do. I’m happy to be able to contribute to help patients and give them hope, especially in a particular dimension like rare diseases. But I know this is a point along the way and I need to continue with the same belief and resilience to achieve other goals, continuing to face challenges and get out of my comfort zone. This course, and particularly module 7 by results of HBDI assessment and Personal Resilience Profile, had a high impact on my future development and how my Professional Identity might change. I have learned some key strategic concepts for the foundations of leadership and I’m even more convinced that I would like to become a manager, able to create the right situations for everyone to express themselves at their best, but this will be possible only if I will be able to create for myself such a condition, continuing to work on myself.”

References

  1. Cruess RL, Cruess SR, Boudreau JD, Snell L, Steinert Y. Reframing medical education to support professional identity formation. Acad Med. 2014 Nov;89(11):1446-51
  2. Evers M, et al. A vision for Medical Affairs in 2025. McKinsey&Company.2019
  3. Rasmussen P, Henderson A, Andrew N, Conroy T. Factors influencing registered nurses’ perceptions of their professional identity: an integrative literature review. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2018;49(5):225‐232.

Disclaimers

  • The material in these reviews is from various public open access sources, meant for educational and informational purposes only
  • Any personal opinions expressed are those of only the author(s) and are not intended to represent the position of any organization(s)
  • No official support by any organization(s) has been provided or should be inferred