Molly Kanofsky had it all planned out. After years of picking up medical experience and focusing on the clinical side of the healthcare industry, she was going to go to back to school to become a physician assistant (PA) after graduating from the University of Delaware with her Bachelor of Applied Science. But instead of what was once her chosen path as a physician assistant, Kanofsky now finds herself in the pharma marketing world with VML Health after an unexpected career detour.
The door that closed on PA school opened to a new best-of-both-worlds career that merges her passion for healthcare and her creative abilities. After almost two years with BGB Group and another two with Havas Health Network in New York, Kanofsky started with VML Health in August as an account supervisor.
In a Q&A for Fierce Pharma Marketing’s “Rising Stars” series, Kanofsky explains her early career pivot, the excitement of learning as you go on a new project and the importance of leading with empathy and compassion.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
FPMK: What inspired you to pursue a career in pharma marketing, and what keeps you motivated in your current role?
I took a very unconventional route into pharma marketing. Even in high school, in college, I spent so much of my time pursuing the career of a PA, physician assistant. So I was volunteering in hospitals. I was working as a medical assistant, gaining as much clinical experience as I can, and then, unfortunately, I applied to PA school and I didn't get in. I was absolutely devastated. I feel like I was so tunnel visioned on that one goal that it was just really upsetting for me. I felt like I had failed, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do next because I really hadn't thought of any other career paths for me.
But I kind of realized that I wanted to go into healthcare because of impacting people's lives and just doing something that helps other people, so I just really needed to figure out another way to do it, and quite quickly because I'd graduated college and obviously needed an income of sorts. So my cousin actually worked for BGB Group for years, and he loved it. I heard about pharma marketing through him, and then I kind of researched what that would look like. And once I got in it, I realized I was able to combine my love for healthcare and then also my creative side, and it honestly just all clicked. And I realized, wow, this is a great field for me.
What keeps me motivated? I feel like there's two big things for me. More than anything is the people I work with. I've been really lucky to work on teams where everyone brings something different to the table, and I've learned so much from the people around me, so that is incredible. And then, second, I also love seeing something go from an idea on a page or just a simple conversation with your client or your team, and then that's actually put out into the real world. There's something very incredibly rewarding about being involved from the very beginning, working through all the challenges along the way with your team, and then finally seeing the end result make an impact on so many lives.
FPMK: What has been the most rewarding or challenging project that you've worked on so far?
So for the first couple years of my career, I was really in more of the traditional HCP marketing side of things. Then I had the opportunity in my last job to work on an account that was focused on partnering with physician influencers in the narcolepsy space to create content on a variety of social platforms, which is truly something I never heard of, like never heard before. It was still HCP to HCP education, but through a channel and format that was completely new to me and pretty new to my client as well. So because it was new for my client, we were really building a lot of the processes as we went, we worked in lockstep, figuring out what that should look like, what worked and what didn't, and how to bring the ideas to life within all the parameters we needed to work within.
I found myself getting more hands-on experience than I ever expected. There were moments where we needed a social mock-up to help visualize an idea, and I'd find myself in Canva putting together something. It was really everyone learning and figuring things out as we went. So there was very much a mentality of whatever needs to get done, we will figure out a way to do so, even if it wasn't like a typical process or like your standard timeline to get things done. We were like, 'we're gonna do whatever it takes to get this done, and we will figure it out.' So it was definitely one of the most challenging projects I've worked on because there were so many firsts, but that's also why it made it so rewarding as well.
FPMK: What advice would you give to people who worked in pharma marketing for decades?
I think the best thing someone with decades of experience can do is continue to share that experience generously while staying open to the people around them. I've been incredibly lucky to work with people who are much smarter and more experienced than I am, and I love that being around them makes me better.
I learn so much from how they think, how they approach challenges, and the perspective that they bring, but I also think the strongest teams recognize that everyone has something to contribute, regardless of how long they've been in the industry. And to me, that comes back to leading with empathy and compassion. When people feel supported, respected, and comfortable bringing their perspectives to the table, everyone learns from each other, and ultimately the work is better for it.
FPMK: What do you like to do when you're not working?
I live in New York, so my most favorite thing to do is really just walking everywhere, exploring different neighborhoods, and trying new restaurants. There's so many things, so many restaurants opening all the time. So it's so fun just going somewhere and trying something new. I spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend, my friends, my family, and I love traveling. I'm pretty much always planning my next trip. I'm actually going to Italy at the end of this week, so I'm so excited!