AI is reshaping life sciences consulting, driving transformation across drug discovery, clinical trials, and healthcare delivery while reinforcing the irreplaceable value of human expertise and trust.

In this episode of Advising the Advisors: AI in Consulting Unlocked, host Bolu Ben-Adeola sits down with Neha Mongia, a Principal in the Global Life Sciences at Korn Ferry, to explore how AI is revolutionizing pharmaceutical and biotech industries while reshaping the consultant-client relationship.

What You’ll Learn:

How AI is transforming drug discovery
Why data standardization remains the biggest challenge in healthcare AI adoption
How regulatory bodies like the FDA are embracing AI tools while maintaining human oversight
The trust paradox in consulting
How personality differences across functions impact AI adoption and implementation
Why successful AI implementation requires function-specific integration

Neha Mongia is a Principal in the Global Life Sciences practice at Korn Ferry, bringing over a decade of experience as a strategist advising leadership teams across pharmaceutical, biotech, and health tech industries. She specializes in guiding senior leaders through organizational transformation, with a particular focus on how AI is reshaping drug discovery, precision medicine, and remote care. Neha's expertise spans the entire life sciences value chain, from R&D to commercialization, where she helps organizations navigate the intersection of traditional pharmaceutical practices and emerging technologies.

Episode Highlights:

[07:53] How AI Is Speeding Up Drug Discovery

AI is already revolutionizing life sciences, from decoding proteins with tools like AlphaFold to speeding up patient recruitment for clinical trials. However, to truly unlock its potential across research, development, and bedside care, we need to tackle one big roadblock: messy, non-standardized healthcare data. For AI to work its magic, we must clean up our data act.

[12:52] FDA’s Secret AI Bots

It's easy to think of AI as just futuristic hype, but it's already making a real impact behind the scenes in pharma, from smarter regulatory reviews to helping medical teams practice doctor conversations with AI chatbots. The big lesson? Don't wait to see where AI fits; get curious now about how these tools can streamline your everyday work, make you more persuasive, and free up your time for what really matters.

[21:05] What’s Really Blocking AI Adoption in Pharma?

No matter how powerful AI tools are, they won't be used if people feel threatened, unsupported, or disconnected from the value they bring. The real barrier isn't technology; it's mindset. To drive AI adoption in pharma, leaders need to tackle fear and skepticism head-on by embedding AI into daily work, aligning incentives, and showing real-life success stories that build trust and enthusiasm across every function.

More Highlights from this Episode:

[01:31] Why Life Sciences Needs Cross-Functional Talent
[34:02] The AI Every Consultant Wishes For
[42:43] The One Thing AI Can’t Replace

If your business is investing in AI but struggling to see real impact, this episode is for you. Discover the hard lessons, the breakthroughs, and the strategies that separate AI success from failure.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts.

Episode Resources:

Neha Mongia on LinkedIn
Korn Ferry Website

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