Why Taiwan’s KOLs Are Underrepresented at Global Medical Conferences, and What the Industry Can Do About It

By The BECC Consulting Group

Walk the corridors of ASCO or ESMO and you will notice something that the data now confirms: the physicians presenting the most prominent research are overwhelmingly from North American and European institutions.

A 2025 study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology analyzed every oral presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting from 2021 to 2024, 1,563 presentations in total. The findings were striking: 69.7% of presenters came from North America, 17.6% from Europe and the UK, and just 10.2% from Asia. The Middle East and South America combined accounted for less than 1%.

Asia, home to more than 60% of the world's population and a rapidly growing share of global clinical research output, accounts for barely one in ten presentations at the world's most important oncology conference.

This is not because Asia is producing weaker science.

Taiwan alone conducts hundreds of significant clinical trials every year. Its oncology centers manage large patient populations, generate valuable real-world evidence, and publish in many of the world’s leading journals. The same is true across Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China. The research exists. The KOLs exist.

Yet at the conferences that shape global clinical practice, influence future research, and determine which studies gain international visibility, Asian physicians remain significantly underrepresented.

After more than twenty years working with pharma companies and KOLs across Asia and the United States, we have seen this gap persist. In some ways, it has widened. And the conclusion we continue to arrive at is straightforward: this is not a science problem. It is a communication and preparation problem, and one the industry is fully capable of addressing.

The gap is real, and so are the consequences

The underrepresentation of Asian KOLs at global conferences is not just a matter of optics or statistics. It has real downstream consequences that Medical Affairs teams and pharma leaders experience directly.

Research that is not communicated clearly on an international stage tends to receive less discussion in follow-up sessions, fewer citations in later publications, and less engagement from the broader clinical community. Years of investment in study design, patient recruitment, and data analysis often generate less impact than they should because the presentation of the science fails to match the quality of the science itself.

For KOLs, the consequences are equally significant. Physicians who underperform on the global stage often develop more slowly as internationally recognized thought leaders. Their credibility among global peers may lag behind the strength of their scientific contributions. As a result, the long-term value of the KOL relationship that pharma companies invest heavily in takes longer to fully materialize.

There is also a broader reputational issue. The continued underrepresentation of Asian science at major conferences shapes how the region is perceived as a contributor to global medical knowledge, and that perception does not accurately reflect the quality of work being produced.

Three root causes, none of them related to the science

In our experience, the gap consistently comes down to three overlapping factors. None of them have anything to do with the quality of the research.

1. Language and delivery under international pressure

English is the working language of global medical conferences. For most Taiwanese and Asian physicians, it is a second or third language. While clinical reading and writing proficiency is often extremely strong, delivering a presentation live under international conference pressure is an entirely different skill set.

The challenge is rarely vocabulary or grammar. The challenge is performance under pressure. Physicians are expected to speak under strict time limits, in front of large international audiences, often with live streaming or recording in place, all in a language that is not native to them. Under those conditions, language anxiety affects pacing, projection, clarity, and executive presence, even among highly fluent speakers.

One of the most common challenges Asian KOLs face is balancing clarity with authority. They know they need to slow down enough for a diverse international audience to follow them, but they also want to sound confident and credible. To many non-native speakers, those goals feel contradictory. Without targeted coaching, many never fully resolve that tension.

2. Cross-cultural communication differences

This issue is discussed far less often, but in our view, it is one of the most important.

Western-led medical conferences operate according to a set of communication norms that are rarely stated explicitly, but are consistently rewarded. Speakers are expected to lead with conclusions rather than gradually build toward them. They are expected to respond directly and assertively during Q&A. They are expected to project confidence in their findings, even while acknowledging limitations.

Many Taiwanese and Asian physicians are trained within a different professional culture, one that values precision, thoroughness, methodological rigor, and humility in the face of uncertainty. These are outstanding qualities in clinicians and researchers. However, they do not always align with what international conference audiences are conditioned to interpret as authority.

The result is often a physician who is highly respected domestically, and viewed as a leading authority by peers in Taiwan, appearing hesitant or less confident to an international audience. Not because the science is weak. Not because the physician lacks expertise. But because the communication style they have been trained in does not fully align with the style global conferences tend to reward.

This is not about asking Asian KOLs to become someone else. It is about helping them develop an additional communication register, a “global conference mode” they can use when the situation requires it, while remaining authentic to who they are as physicians and researchers.

3. The structural preparation gap

The third issue is also the most fixable, and perhaps the most overlooked.

In many pharma organizations, preparation for international conference presentations remains relatively informal. Physicians prepare their slides, conduct one or two internal rehearsals, receive some feedback from Medical Affairs, and then present.

There is rarely a preparation process equivalent to what organizations invest in for other high-stakes communications. Investor presentations receive months of refinement and coaching. Regulatory submissions undergo multiple layers of review. Yet a major international conference presentation, which may carry enormous strategic value for both the science and the KOL relationship, is often prepared in just a few compressed weeks at the end of an already overloaded clinical schedule.

Part of this is timing. The preparation window feels long when the abstract is submitted, but by the time acceptance arrives, travel is arranged, and clinical responsibilities intensify, time disappears quickly.

Part of it is resourcing. Global L&D teams based outside Asia may not be equipped to provide the specific linguistic and cross-cultural coaching many Asian KOLs need, even when companies have strong internal training functions.

And part of it is framing. Presentation preparation is still frequently treated as the physician’s individual responsibility, rather than as a shared organizational investment in both the science and the relationship.

What the industry can do differently

The companies that consistently develop strong international conference presenters tend to approach KOL communication development with the same seriousness they apply to scientific development.

They do not wait until two weeks before the conference to begin preparation. They do not rely on generic communication workshops that were never designed for the realities of international medical presentations. And they do not assume that an exceptional clinician or researcher will automatically perform effectively on a global stage without targeted preparation.

In practice, this means integrating presentation preparation into the KOL engagement plan from the moment an abstract is submitted, not after acceptance.

It means using specialized coaching built around the physician’s actual presentation, their specific data, and the communication challenges they personally face.

And it means explicitly addressing the cross-cultural dimension, helping KOLs not only present their science accurately, but present it in a style and structure that international audiences can absorb most effectively.

None of these solutions are especially complex. But they do require a shift in mindset. Medical Affairs teams and pharma organizations need to begin viewing presentation preparation not as an individual task, but as a strategic organizational investment.

A collective opportunity for Taiwan pharma

Taiwan’s pharma industry already possesses the science, the clinical infrastructure, and the KOL relationships needed to achieve much stronger representation at global medical conferences.

The gap is not permanent. It is the result of preparation and communication challenges that can be addressed if organizations choose to invest in them.

The real question for Medical Affairs leaders and pharma executives is not whether their KOLs understand their data. They do.

The question is whether organizations are doing everything possible to ensure that important research reaches global audiences with the clarity, authority, and impact it deserves.

Because the science is too important, and the opportunity too significant, to leave communication to chance.

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BECC Consulting has worked with Medical Affairs teams and KOLs across Asia and the United States for over twenty years, preparing physicians for ASCO, ESMO, and major international medical conferences. If you are supporting KOLs presenting this season and want to ensure they are fully prepared for the global stage, we would welcome a conversation.

Download our ASCO & ESMO KOL Coaching overview: www.beccconsulting.com/ma-kol-training

Book a free consultation: www.beccconsulting.com/free-consultation