One Size Does Not Fit All: Leading Medical Affairs Across a Diverse Portfolio
What happens when one Medical Affairs leader is responsible for oncology, neurology, immunology, fertility, HIV, and rare disease, all at the same time? The answer is not a bigger playbook. It is an entirely different way of thinking. Host Peg Crowley sits down with Lori Lebson, Senior Vice President of Global Medical Affairs at CalVista Pharmaceuticals, to dig into one of the most underestimated challenges in the field: leading Medical Affairs strategy across a truly diverse portfolio. Lori has lived this challenge from the inside. From large pharma to biotech, she brings a rare perspective on how portfolio diversity changes everything, from scientific narrative and data generation strategy to team design, resource trade-offs, and global launch planning across the U.S., Europe, and beyond. Together, Peg and Lori explore why a lift and shift approach across therapeutic areas fails every time, and what Medical Affairs leaders must do instead. They dig into how oncology, neurology, and rare disease each demand a fundamentally different strategy, why the pace, the patient community, and the evidence generation priorities are worlds apart, and what that means for how Medical Affairs shows up at the enterprise level. They also get into the biotech reality, where diverse pipelines inside small organizations create compounding pressure, and why getting Medical Affairs to the table early is no longer optional. Running through it all is the belief that the patient is the true North Star, and that no drug has truly succeeded until it reaches the patient who needs it. If you lead across franchises, manage a diverse Medical Affairs portfolio, or are building your career and want to understand what it really takes to operate at this level, this episode is essential listening.