SENSEI masterful health communications

Peter Steinberg
Director of Scientific Content

What is your role at SENSEI?
I am the Director of Scientific Content, which means I spend a lot of time dealing with data, looking at clinical studies, helping to extract key messages and putting them into context for varying audiences, be they physicians, consumers and the media that serve those audiences.

What is your background?
I have been in healthcare communications since 1987. I was an English lit major in college and I have an MBA in marketing. I fell into healthcare communications because I needed a summer internship after my first year of business school. During my internship interview at a major PR firm, I revealed that my father was a physician, so they stuck me in the healthcare group. Much to my surprise, I found that I liked it. I soon developed a reputation as the "science guy" and a good writer. I worked for 7 agencies prior to SENSEI -- including Medisphere, so I'm also a Medisphere alumnus. I have worked in many specialty areas, including cardiology, oncology, analgesia, rheumatology, HIV/AIDS, genomics, diabetes, obesity, infectious diseases and reproductive health.

How long have you been with SENSEI?
I started at SENSEI in February 2003.

How is SENSEI different than other agencies?
At SENSEI the emphasis is really on doing good work. The understanding is that if we do our jobs right, if we do a thorough job, and if we exceed the clients' expectations, billability and profitability will take care of themselves.

Is there something different about working in a company that is predominantly women?
Yes, there is a difference. At SENSEI, there is a culture of working hard and of being aggressive, but it's with a softer and more refreshing touch than that typically found in male-dominated organizations. And I don't have to fight anyone for the sports section.

In what area(s) do you feel like you've made the most impact so far?
I've instilled a kind of discipline for rigorous attention to data and interpreting data in terms of their clinical and public health impact. What you write has to make sense, it has to be properly referenced, and the source you are citing has to support the claim you are making.

How would you describe your work style?
I feel that if you write it down, you remember. I need to sit down everyday and write my list of what I need to do. Everything gets a star -- that means I need to keep it on my radar screen. Two stars means it's really important. Two stars with one in parentheses means it's important, but if it doesn't happen today, it's no tragedy. I've been doing this for years.

Do you have a personal motto?
The whole point of communicating is clarity.

Do you have a role model?
One of my earliest mentors in this business was a woman named Erica Kaplan. She took me under her wing and showed me how to do medical writing, as opposed to splashy, consumer-oriented campaigns. Erica would go around the world to medical meetings with a tape recorder and a notebook and take notes at scientific sessions. She'd come back with pages and pages of notes and stacks of tapes and say, "Okay, you need to do a summary of the most important sessions." She really helped instill in me the rigor and the inquisitive, scientific eye.

If you were a form of transportation, what would it be?
I'd be a kayak because it's reliable yet funky, and it also requires some effort to get you to your destination -- a reminder that very few things in life are easy. There's also the wonderful fact that kayak is a palindrome; I love palindromes.

If you were a rock star who would you be?
Elvis Costello. He's just so brilliant. He's a great songwriter and yet he's not afraid to try new things. He doesn't rest on his laurels, he doesn't keep doing what he's done before, he's always trying something new and he's not always successful. He doesn't care if he's successful, he does it because he can.

What are three things you couldn't live without?
My family, music and the New York Times. Even if I don't get to the whole paper every day, I have to read the front page, just so I at least have an idea of what the Times editors consider the most important news in the world today. I'm also addicted to the crossword puzzle.