Ali Walsh, Scientific Director

In 2000, the Turner Prize was awarded to an installation called ‘Learning How To Drive’. In this interactive artwork by Tomoko Takahashi, viewers navigated barricades, sports cars, flying stop signs and a myriad of hazards, many of which seemed to come from nowhere.

As well as capturing the experiences of a learner driver, this installation also serves as a fitting metaphor for the reality of life as a healthcare professional (HCP).

The amount of medical information flying at HCPs is staggering and – from a medical knowledge base – expanding at an incredible rate (predicted to double every 73 days).

In theory, today’s doctors should be the best-informed in history. But rather than empowering, this amount of information is simply overwhelming and, as a result, cognitive demands are reaching unmanageable levels. This impacts life in clinical practice, with HCPs experiencing burnout, depression and struggling to connect with colleagues and patients.

Patient interactions add to these difficulties as conversations are cluttered with misinformation and half-truths that erode trust between HCPs and patients.

For those of us working in medical affairs and medical education, this is a wake-up call. ‘Business as usual’ is no longer enough. We can’t just ensure that our work stands out amid the chaos – we must truly connect with our audience and navigate the chaos together.

 

Let’s take oncology as an example

Oncologists devising a treatment plan for a patient may need to review guidelines, read articles, order tests and consult with colleagues. The challenges of staying up to date may mean that clinically significant insights are missed, limiting options for patients who may benefit from them.

At Havas Lynx, we’ve been at the forefront of oncology communications for years.
Our most-awarded campaigns at Cannes and Eurobest reflect our ethos across therapy areas to deliver innovation and creativity that empowers HCPs and patients to act differently.

Our approach has evolved: in a post-truth era, with fragmented media, declining trust in science, AI slop and more misinformed content than ever before, it needed to.

 

Medical affairs: from support function to strategic leader

Credibility and trust are now the currency of influence and medical affairs must play a vital role in forging these.

Grounded in data-driven human insights and representing the perspectives of both patients and HCPs, medical affairs can steward and lead cross-functional discussions that include commercial, compliance and patient advocacy teams. These collaborations ensure consistency and effectiveness. But let’s be clear: trust is not built on data alone.

 

Translating information into clinical value

We don’t just need to educate our audiences to change the way they think – we want them to act differently as a result. This demands connection and authenticity, and means that we have to show up in more thoughtful ways.

 

1. Understanding and empathy

We need to get under the skin of HCPs and patients to truly understand them and their needs. Tools like Point.1 (Havas’ proprietary data and insights platform) can help us understand conversations and perspectives at a deeper level. This allows us to interrogate what our HCPs and their patients really need and identify the educational activities or solutions that will address them.

 

2. Personalised experiences

‘One-size-fits-all’ means ‘doesn’t really fit anyone’. Using our deep data sets from Point.1 and mapping customer experiences via our Medi-CX processes, we can unlock personalised experiences for truly effective learning, navigating the multitude of touchpoints that compete for HCPs’ attention, meeting their educational needs where and when they need us.

 

3. Clinical utility and authenticity

Partnering with experts to create clinically actionable content is essential. Involving patients, doctors and allied HCPs in our work raises the standard of care and empowers HCPs as advocates, fostering scientific discourse and outputs that can be confidently shared.

 

Science Shared

Scientific communications need to be accurate, memorable and compelling. They should also move beyond abstract data to describe tangible realities that connect with human experience.

At Havas Lynx Medical, we are built to do this.

From our in-house medical and patient advisors to our scientific strategists and world-leading creative problem-solvers, we believe that the science our industry is built on is not just innovative.

It should be meaningful, challenging, moving or even delightful – a source of connection amid the chaos and something that demands to be shared.

 

To get in touch about working with us, reach out to europe@havaslynx.com, we’d love to have a conversation!

To find out more here, or sign up to join our webinar at 3pm, 25th March, 2026.