What does a clinical fellow do?

Clinical fellows are doctoral-level health professionals whose interest focuses on biomedical research. They take part in protocol-based clinical research and laboratory research. Their significant role in research leads them to a higher academic degree. Usually, they conduct research for 2-3 hours. They have completed their general residency, and train in health specialties like oncology or cardiology. They examine and treat patients, execute medical procedures, and complete patient charts.
Clinical fellow responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical fellow resumes:
- 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.
- Provide clinical consults with goal of minimizing unnecessary tests and procedures and increasing patients' participation in health care decisions
- Develop, monitor and maintain patient individualize treatment plans base on principles of ABA and in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team.
- Maintain extensive organization of samples and annotations of health history for relevant hereditary cancer cases in EMR.
Clinical fellow skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Clinical Fellows are proficient in Patients, Veterans, and Autism. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Integrity, and Observational skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Fellows that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 13%
Provided clinical consults with goal of minimizing unnecessary tests and procedures and increasing patients' participation in health care decisions
- Veterans, 10%
Provided verbal and written feedback and recommendations to veterans, family members, and interdisciplinary team.
- Autism, 9%
Perform evaluation and treatment of disorders associated with articulation, language, voice, and autism.
- Surgery, 7%
Received internationally-accredited clinical residency training in Surgery.
- Patient Care, 6%
Communicated with physicians and outside therapists to optimize patient care.
- Group Therapy, 5%
Conducted process and topic based group therapy with adults receiving inpatient psychiatric treatment.
"patients," "veterans," and "autism" are among the most common skills that clinical fellows use at work. You can find even more clinical fellow responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a clinical fellow to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what clinical fellows do because "psychologists must examine the information they collect and draw logical conclusions." Additionally, a clinical fellow resume shows how clinical fellows use analytical skills: "used clinical judgment through analysis of patients swallowing function to ensure appropriate diet consistency for patient's safe oral intake. "
Integrity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling clinical fellow duties is integrity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "psychologists must keep patients’ problems in confidence, and patients must be able to trust psychologists’ expertise in treating sensitive problems." According to a clinical fellow resume, here's how clinical fellows can utilize integrity in their job responsibilities: "assured integrity of data through documentation of visits in emr and taking detailed health histories. "
Observational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of clinical fellows is observational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday clinical fellow duties, as "psychologists study attitude and behavior." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "completed observational rotations in ct, interventional, mri, and ultrasound. "
Patience. clinical fellow responsibilities often require "patience." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "psychologists must demonstrate patience, because conducting research or treating patients may take a long time." This resume example shows what clinical fellows do with patience on a typical day: "interviewed patients and their families to collect full information on patience's case. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in clinical fellow job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what clinical fellows do. Clinical fellow responsibilities rely on this skill because "psychologists must have strong communication skills because they spend much of their time listening to and speaking with patients or describing their research." You can also see how clinical fellow duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "administered augmentative and alternative communication (aac) evaluations. "
Interpersonal skills. Lastly, "interpersonal skills" is an important element of what a clinical fellow does. Clinical fellow responsibilities require this skill because "psychologists study and help individuals, so they must be able to work well with clients, patients, and other professionals." This resume example highlights how clinical fellow duties rely on this skill: "facilitated groups consisting of interpersonal skills training, bereavement, trauma and substance abuse, and anger management. "
The three companies that hire the most clinical fellows are:
- AlphaVista Services18 clinical fellows jobs
- Suffolk University9 clinical fellows jobs
- LifePoint Health2 clinical fellows jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable clinical fellow resume templates
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Clinical fellow vs. Eating disorder specialist
Provosts have a hefty set of educational requirements, including a master's degree in an educational field, tenure as a college or university academic professor, and, in some cases, the prerequisite of a doctorate: all necessary for the $151K yearly salary. Those who choose this career path will be called upon as the university's chief academic officer under the president to create and implement academic priorities as well as allocate resources that will support those priorities.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between clinical fellows and eating disorder specialist. For instance, clinical fellow responsibilities require skills such as "patients," "veterans," "autism," and "surgery." Whereas a eating disorder specialist is skilled in "mental illness," "community organizations," "community resources," and "substance abuse treatment." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, eating disorder specialists reach lower levels of education than clinical fellows. Eating disorder specialists are 6.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 18.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Clinical fellow vs. Psychology associate
A staff psychologist is responsible for monitoring patients with mental health conditions and conducting counseling services to observe their behaviors and diagnose their developmental disorders. Staff psychologists develop treatment plans and administer medications for the patients and may also facilitate referrals to other institutions and medical professionals for further examinations. They utilize necessary resources, especially therapy programs, to manage the patients' conditions and document their progress during each session. A staff psychologist seeks advice from other mental health experts to identify case management concepts and assessments.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that clinical fellow responsibilities requires skills like "veterans," "surgery," "patient care," and "early intervention." But a psychology associate might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "mental illness," "release planning," "behavioral management," and "therapeutic interventions."
On average, psychology associates earn a higher salary than clinical fellows. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, psychology associates earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $76,964. Whereas clinical fellows have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $72,607.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Psychology associates tend to reach higher levels of education than clinical fellows. In fact, they're 7.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 18.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical fellow vs. Sports psychologist
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a clinical fellow is likely to be skilled in "patients," "veterans," "autism," and "surgery," while a typical sports psychologist is skilled in "ncaa," "clinical psychology," "performance enhancement," and "professional athletes."
When it comes to education, sports psychologists tend to earn lower degree levels compared to clinical fellows. In fact, they're 14.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 10.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Clinical fellow vs. Staff psychologist
Types of clinical fellow
Updated January 8, 2025











