What Is Clinical Product?
A working definition of the clinical product role - what it does, where it sits, and why getting it right matters.
👋🏻 Hey there! This is the second post in the Foundation Series, exploring what clinical product actually is.
The second post in the Foundation Series is live on the site.
Last time I talked about the gap between what clinical product roles require and what’s available to support the people doing them. This one tackles the obvious next question - what does clinical product actually do?
I’ve broken it down into five core things: setting clinical direction, embedding clinical judgement across the whole development lifecycle, designing for the full clinical ecosystem (not just isolated users), owning clinical risk in day-to-day product work, and being the point of clinical accountability when partnerships and scale come into play.
I also get into what clinical product is not - because the role gets confused with SME work, compliance, QA, and medical affairs more often than it should. The distinctions matter, especially when organisations are hiring for these roles without a shared understanding of what they’re actually asking for.
If you’ve ever had to explain why your role isn’t just “the clinician who reviews things before release,” this one might resonate.