Post job

Clinical laboratory medical director education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a clinical laboratory medical director. Clinical laboratory medical directors usually study biology, nursing, or medical technician. 45% of clinical laboratory medical directors hold a bachelor's degree, and 19% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 88 real clinical laboratory medical director resumes to see exactly what clinical laboratory medical director education sections show.

The most common colleges for clinical laboratory medical directors are the Wayne State College and the Wayne State College.

There are also many online clinical laboratory medical director courses to help get the education required to be a clinical laboratory medical director.

What education do you need to become a clinical laboratory medical director?

What degree do you need to be a clinical laboratory medical director?

The most common degree for clinical laboratory medical directors is bachelor's degree, with 45% of clinical laboratory medical directors earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 19% and master's degree degree at 14%.
  • Bachelor's, 45%
  • Master's, 19%
  • Associate, 14%
  • Doctorate, 14%
  • Other Degrees, 8%

What should I major in to become a clinical laboratory medical director?

You should major in biology to become a clinical laboratory medical director. 14% of clinical laboratory medical directors major in biology. Other common majors for a clinical laboratory medical director include nursing and medical technician.

Most common colleges for clinical laboratory medical directors

Clinical laboratory medical directors often get their degrees at Wayne State College, George Washington University, The, and Loma Linda University. Here are the most common colleges for clinical laboratory medical directors in the US based on their resumes.
Clinical laboratory medical director common collegePercentages
Wayne State College8.33%
George Washington University, The8.33%
Loma Linda University8.33%
University of Pittsburgh8.33%
Teachers College of Columbia University4.17%

Best majors for clinical laboratory medical directors

Best colleges for clinical laboratory medical directors

The best colleges for clinical laboratory medical directors are Duke University, Stanford University, and University of Pennsylvania.

A clinical laboratory medical director with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for clinical laboratory medical directors. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become clinical laboratory medical directors.

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

2. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-state tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

3. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

5. SUNY Stony Brook

Stony Brook, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$9,625

Enrollment

17,407

6. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Minneapolis, MN • Private

In-state tuition

$14,760

Enrollment

31,451

7. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

8. University of Connecticut

Storrs, CT • Private

In-state tuition

$15,730

Enrollment

18,830

9. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-state tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

10. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-state tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

20 best online courses for clinical laboratory medical directors

Advertising disclosure

1. Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation

coursera

Kidney transplantation is a major advance of modern medicine which provides high-quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. What used to be an experimental, risky, and very limited treatment option more than 50 years ago is now routinely performed in many countries worldwide. The number of renal transplants is expected to rise sharply in the next decade since the proportion of patients with end stage renal disease is increasing. Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas...

2. Clinical Trials Analysis, Monitoring, and Presentation

coursera

In this course, you’ll learn more advanced operational skills that you and your team need to run a successful clinical trial. You’ll learn about the computation of sample size and how to develop a sample size calculation that’s suitable for your trial design and outcome measures. You’ll also learn to use statistical methods to monitor your trial for safety, integrity, and efficacy. Next, you’ll learn how to report the results from your clinical trials through both journal articles and data...

3. Basic of Clinical Data Management

udemy
4.5
(341)

Clinical Data Management...

4. The Simplest Guide to Clinical Trials Data Analysis with SAS

udemy
4.4
(1,044)

Step into the world of Pharmaceutical industry Clinical Trials Clinical Research Biostatistics Clinical SAS SAS...

5. Clinical Natural Language Processing

coursera

This course teaches you the fundamentals of clinical natural language processing (NLP). In this course you will learn the basic linguistic principals underlying NLP, as well as how to write regular expressions and handle text data in R. You will also learn practical techniques for text processing to be able to extract information from clinical notes. Finally, you will have a chance to put your skills to the test with a real-world practical application where you develop text processing...

6. Clinical Trials Data Management and Quality Assurance

coursera

In this course, you’ll learn to collect and care for the data gathered during your trial and how to prevent mistakes and errors through quality assurance practices. Clinical trials generate an enormous amount of data, so you and your team must plan carefully by choosing the right collection instruments, systems, and measures to protect the integrity of your trial data. You’ll learn how to assemble, clean, and de-identify your datasets. Finally, you’ll learn to find and correct deficiencies...

7. Good Clinical Practice ICH GCP for Clinical Research

udemy
4.5
(710)

Certification on ICH GCP E6 R2 Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research The Only Complete Course You Can Find Online...

8. The Beginners Course for Clinical Research

udemy
4.5
(650)

The Essentials of Clinical Trials - Clinical Research for Beginners...

9. Introduction to Clinical Data Science

coursera

This course will prepare you to complete all parts of the Clinical Data Science Specialization. In this course you will learn how clinical data are generated, the format of these data, and the ethical and legal restrictions on these data. You will also learn enough SQL and R programming skills to be able to complete the entire Specialization - even if you are a beginner programmer. While you are taking this course you will have access to an actual clinical data set and a free, online...

10. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care

coursera

This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...

11. Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research Professionals

udemy
4.5
(537)

The Complete, Certified ICH GCP (R2 & R3) Course for Investigators, Study Coordinators, Sponsors, Monitors and Study staff...

12. Medical Device Regulation 2017/745 EU regulatory affairs.

udemy
4.3
(764)

Understand regulations for medical devices in simple terms to gain market approval of a medical device in the EU...

13. Understanding Clinical Research: Behind the Statistics

coursera

If you’ve ever skipped over the results section of a medical paper because terms like “confidence interval” or “p-value” go over your head, then you’re in the right place. You may be a clinical practitioner reading research articles to keep up-to-date with developments in your field or a medical student wondering how to approach your own research. Greater confidence in understanding statistical analysis and the results can benefit both working professionals and those undertaking research...

14. Practical Regulatory Affairs 2020 - US FDA Medical Devices

udemy
4.4
(726)

A practical course discussing the US FDA Medical Device regulations for real-world situations...

15. Good Clinical Practice (GCP)

udemy
4.2
(313)

Key features of the GCP guideline, roles and responsibilities involved and the requirements of essential documentation...

16. Understanding Medications and Therapeutics

udemy
4.7
(276)

Helping you build the best foundation to truly understand medications and develop clinical reasoning skills...

17. Clinical Research for beginners

udemy
4.2
(462)

The Art of Publishing - Master Pub Med, Study design, Biostatistics, Journal choice, Manuscript writing & Referencing...

18. Certificate Course in Clinical Research (CCCR)

udemy
4
(302)

A Clinical Research Course-ICH-GCP E6(R2), Clinical Trials, Essential Documents, Sponsor, Investigator, Pharmaceuticals...

19. Medical Terminology

udemy
4.7
(3,688)

Introduction to the meaning of various roots, terms and combining forms that are components of medical words...

20. EU Medical Device Regulatory Affairs explained Simply

udemy
4.3
(391)

How to get approval to sell Medical Devices within the European Union. Understand regulatory affairs & ISO 13485 2016...

Top 10 most affordable universities for clinical laboratory medical directors

The most affordable schools for clinical laboratory medical directors are University of Florida, california state university - long beach, and california state university - los angeles.

If the best universities for clinical laboratory medical directors are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for clinical laboratory medical directors.

1. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

2. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

3. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

4. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

5. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

6. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

7. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,182

Cost of attendance

13,998

8. Florida International University

Miami, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,556

Cost of attendance

19,434

9. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

10. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,942

Cost of attendance

14,469

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for clinical laboratory medical directors

The hardest universities for clinical laboratory medical directors to get into are Duke University, Stanford University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for clinical laboratory medical directors are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for clinical laboratory medical directors based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

Admissions rate

9%

SAT average

1,516

2. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

4. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

5. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,456

6. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,520

7. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

8. Yale University

New Haven, CT • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,517

9. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

10. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for clinical laboratory medical directors

The easiest schools for clinical laboratory medical directors to get into are D'Youville College, barry university, and gwynedd mercy university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a clinical laboratory medical director without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for clinical laboratory medical directors.

1. D'Youville College

Buffalo, NY • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,072

2. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

3. Gwynedd Mercy University

Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,031

4. University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,044

5. Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

84%

SAT average

1,031

6. Felician University

Lodi, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

81%

SAT average

999

7. AdventHealth University

Orlando, FL • Private

Admissions rate

87%

SAT average

1,016

8. Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,139

9. Kean University

Union, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

86%

SAT average

991

10. Holy Family University

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

72%

SAT average

1,017

Average clinical laboratory medical director salary by education level

According to our data, clinical laboratory medical directors with a Doctorate degree earn the highest average salary, at $225,344 annually. Clinical laboratory medical directors with a Master's degree earn an average annual salary of $187,949.
Clinical laboratory medical director education levelClinical laboratory medical director salary
Master's Degree$187,949
Bachelor's Degree$163,309
Doctorate Degree$225,344
Some College/ Associate Degree$145,852

Clinical laboratory medical director education FAQs

Search for clinical laboratory medical director jobs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse executive management jobs