How To Become A Clinical Fellow: What It Is and Career Path

What is a clinical fellow and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Most people know that the path to becoming a doctor isn't easy. Medical students need to get a bachelor's degree, ace the MCAT, finish medical school, and complete a couple years of residency before becoming doctors. But for doctors who want to get certified in a specialty, such as cardiology or psychology, the road isn't over. They need to work as clinical fellows.

Most clinical fellows already have advanced degrees in their field, but they are still learning. They work with an established specialist and increase their knowledge of the field they are interested in by working directly with patients. Clinical fellows also conduct research in their field by working in the lab, writing papers, and even presenting at conferences.

Many clinical fellows have to work long hours, even during holidays, to fill in for other doctors. However, the rewards are great. Once they finish their fellowship, a clinical fellow can finally become a specialist and have great research work to put in their portfolio.

ScoreClinical FellowUS Average

Salary

5.4

Avg. Salary $69,060

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.20%

Asian 3.34%

Black or African American 6.18%

Hispanic or Latino 10.44%

Unknown 3.44%

White 76.39%

Gender

female 73.78%

male 26.22%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a clinical fellow

Explore clinical fellow education requirements

Most common clinical fellow degrees

Bachelor's

40.4 %

Master's

34.1 %

Doctorate

21.5 %

Start to develop specific clinical fellow skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	13.40%
Veterans	10.33%
Autism	9.20%
Surgery	7.36%
Patient Care	6.26%

Complete relevant clinical fellow training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clinical fellows learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a clinical fellow based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clinical fellow resumes.

Research clinical fellow duties and responsibilities

Level of therapy provide included acute and subacute, as well as long-term rehabilitation at the hospital's skil nursing center.
Evaluate and treat patients suffering from neurological disorders and brain injury.
Evaluate, personalize, and carry out cognitive-linguistic and dysphagia rehabilitation for geriatric clients.
Collaborate on interdisciplinary team comprise of psychiatry, neurology, nursing/case manager, and neuropsychology.

Prepare your clinical fellow resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clinical fellow resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a clinical fellow resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable clinical fellow resume templates

Build a professional clinical fellow resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your clinical fellow resume.