Championing the next generation of talent is a key pillar of activity for the PM Society. At the 7th ‘A Career in Healthcare Communications’ event, run in association with the Healthcare Communications Association, a record number of students and graduates heard from over 30 industry experts who volunteered their time to demystify a sector that offers many different career paths.
Curiosity, Creativity and Connection: A Career in Healthcare Communications
The PM Society and HCA careers event ‘A Career In Healthcare Communications’ was back for its 7th year on 18 February 2026 at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, with the largest audience of graduates and undergraduates we have had.
Our line-up of professionals from both pharmaceutical companies and health communications agencies offered honest and practical insights on how to get into the industry and the roles available, as well as personal experiences from their careers.
The event kicked off with an inspiring introduction by Dominic Marchant, Chair of the PM Society, who reflected on his own experience as a patient, and the importance of having a positive mindset even when encountering negative experiences.
James Harper, founder of 28b, then led a panel discussion on where to start in healthcare communications. He was joined by industry professionals Ben Keppie, Amir H. Kelishadi, Mia Buddle, Emma Macleod and Dr Sumira Riaz, who shared their experiences and advice to our audience considering a career in the sector.
The panelists agreed that networking, resilience, confidence, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and authenticity were key behaviours to cultivate for a successful career in healthcomms.
Simon Grime from the PM Society Marketing Excellence Group spoke about the need for strong marketing strategy in pharmaceutical communications and the opportunities to develop relevant skills through postgraduate training.
We then welcomed the winners of the first Future Communicators Challenge competition for students, run by the PM Society and HCA for the first time in 2025. Shannon Downing, Summer Revely and Parvathy Krishna shared the thinking behind their winning entries and what the audience can gain from entering in 2026.
We were pleased to launch this year’s Future Communicators Challenge competition and details can be found here.
After the popular networking session where delegates had the chance to speak with a variety of experts and exhibitors on career opportunities, Dr Baljit Thatti and Professor Neil Williams of Kingston University took to the stage to share some useful insights into the skills that employers are looking for and the diversity of roles in the industry.
The tone then shifted with a highly visual session from Phil Bartlett of Accenture Song about how creativity can make a healthcare campaign memorable and ultimately effective. He showed some inspiring campaigns that struck a chord, and shared an important secret with the audience… “doctors are humans, too”.
The final session of the day focused on futureproofing careers in the age of AI. Jonathan Dancer of Redbow Consulting led the discussion with Miriam Kenrick, Gaurav Sanganee and Grace Thornton about how the implementation of AI will ultimately replace some roles but lead to the creation of new jobs and opportunities in the healthcomms industry.
Link to PDF of presentation here.
The day closed with a networking session where delegates had the chance to speak with the speakers and exhibitors, who were Syneos, Branding Science Group, Dice, Page & Page Health, Verve and Women in Pharma. We are very grateful for their support in ensuring that this worthwhile initiative can happen.
If the level of feedback and social media interaction by our delegates are anything to go by, we can look forward to many talented professionals joining our industry in the coming years!
If you would like to find out more about the PM Society and HCA’s initiative to highlight the breadth of opportunities available in healthcare communications please go to our Career in Healthcare Communications website.
