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What does a clinical professor do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
Quoted expert
Chris Robinson

Clinical professors, or professors of practice, teach students practically rather than the usual theoretical lectures while practicing their specialties in different fields. To do this job, they should be practicing in a specified field like medical, business, law, dental, and nursing. They usually teach their students the core principles of their chosen fields and the real-life situations they may encounter during their practice. These professors supervise the interactions their students have concerning their field and grade their students' academic and applied performance

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Clinical professor responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical professor resumes:

  • Design, manage and execute research plan to investigate role of StarD4 and StarD5 proteins in lipid metabolism as the P.I.
  • Conduct weekly didactic series on substance abuse theory, research, assessment, and treatment with 3rd year psychiatry residents.
  • Experiment with different surface chemistry to improve quality of yields -participate in poster session and presentation to faculty and graduate students.
  • Participate in recruitment and selection of prospective faculty (physician and psychologist) and psychiatry residents.

Clinical professor skills and personality traits

We calculated that 23% of Clinical Professors are proficient in Patients, Internal Medicine, and Clinical Practice. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.

We break down the percentage of Clinical Professors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 23%

    Provided written and verbal evidence-based responses to requests for drug information from physicians and patients.

  • Internal Medicine, 7%

    Managed internal medicine post-graduate training program; delivered classroom and bedside teaching related to internal medicine.

  • Clinical Practice, 6%

    Supervised Social Work interns' clinical practice.

  • Direct Patient Care, 6%

    Provide direct patient care in an HIV and co-infection outpatient clinic adjoined to the University Hospital.

  • Pediatrics, 5%

    Provided experience for students on general pediatrics inpatient unit, pediatric emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit.

  • Surgery, 5%

    Pioneered and directed the Pain Institute and Elmonte Out-Patient Surgery Center.

Common skills that a clinical professor uses to do their job include "patients," "internal medicine," and "clinical practice." You can find details on the most important clinical professor responsibilities below.

Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a clinical professor to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what clinical professors do because "postsecondary teachers need to work well with others for tasks such as instructing students and serving on committees." Additionally, a clinical professor resume shows how clinical professors use interpersonal skills: "created original syllabus with emphasis on movement experiences to foster intra and interpersonal awareness. "

Speaking skills. Another essential skill to perform clinical professor duties is speaking skills. Clinical professors responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need good communication skills to present lectures and provide feedback to students." Clinical professors also use speaking skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "presented theoretical framework of health promotion and anticipatory guidance practices for pediatric patients of various ages. "

Writing skills. This is an important skill for clinical professors to perform their duties. For an example of how clinical professor responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "postsecondary teachers need strong writing ability to publish original research and analysis." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a clinical professor: "train 30 to 50 mental health trainees and interns annually on clinical documentation standards, writing reports, and assessing risk. ".

See the full list of clinical professor skills

The three companies that hire the most clinical professors are:

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Compare different clinical professors

Clinical professor vs. Adjunct faculty

Adjunct faculty is the collective term for adjunct professors or lecturers. The adjunct faculty teaches students based on the limited-term of their contract. Oftentimes, they teach preparatory or introductory courses by semester arrangement for the entire academic year. Most of them are employed in higher education. Unlike regular professors, adjunct faculty do not have benefits and are not required to be present in meetings. They can work as either a contract professor or a part-time professor.

The annual salary of adjunct faculties is $75,508 lower than the average salary of clinical professors.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both clinical professor and adjunct faculty positions are skilled in public health, curriculum development, and professional development.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a clinical professor are more likely to require skills like "patients," "internal medicine," "clinical practice," and "direct patient care." On the other hand, a job as an adjunct faculty requires skills like "student learning," "philosophy," "course syllabus," and "course content." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Adjunct faculties earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $115,189. On the other hand, clinical professors are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $167,225.On average, adjunct faculties reach higher levels of education than clinical professors. Adjunct faculties are 12.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 18.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Clinical professor vs. Faculty

A faculty member is an individual whose primary responsibility is to provide teaching and research to students in colleges and universities. Faculties must work with colleagues to design a curriculum to keep up with the changes in the discipline. They help their students choose majors and mentor them by way of face-to-face or electronic means. They also keep up their communication with alumni to assist with employment searches or career changes.

Faculty positions earn lower pay than clinical professor roles. They earn a $78,172 lower salary than clinical professors per year.A few skills overlap for clinical professors and faculties. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "patients," "public health," and "curriculum development. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real clinical professor resumes. While clinical professor responsibilities can utilize skills like "internal medicine," "clinical practice," "direct patient care," and "pediatrics," faculties use skills like "philosophy," "rehabilitation," "student learning," and "social work."

Faculties earn higher levels of education than clinical professors in general. They're 6.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 18.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for clinical professors in the next 3-5 years?

Chris RobinsonChris Robinson LinkedIn profile

Clinical Resource Director, NCOPE

I am of the mindset that technology isn't a separate concept, but something becoming deeply interwoven into our day-to-day lives. On the business side, I feel access to real-time data will become the relative norm, enabling employees at all levels to not only have access to critical data, but have it presented in a meaningful way. The term "data" brings with it a certain stigma, and to some, reflections of giant spreadsheets of data. A giant spreadsheet may contain critical data, but it must be visualized in a way that allows a person to quickly draw an appropriate conclusion. From a physical goods standpoint, additive manufacturing is no longer something exclusive to the prototyping and enthusiast community, but something accessible across professions. I would not be surprised if 3D printers were integrated into retailers the same way 1-hour photo labs are.

Clinical professor vs. Lead instructor

A lead instructor's responsibilities vary depending on the line of work or industry. Most of the time, a lead instructor must devise plans and strategies on educating students or trainees on a particular subject. Aside from providing various learning materials, one must also conduct different assessment activities ranging from oral, written, or practical tests and grade them accordingly. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain a healthy and safe environment for students, prioritizing everyone's interpersonal and academic progress throughout the school year or course.

On average, lead instructors earn lower salaries than clinical professors, with a $108,356 difference per year.Using the responsibilities included on clinical professors and lead instructors resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "curriculum development," "professional development," and "syllabus.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from clinical professor resumes include skills like "patients," "internal medicine," "clinical practice," and "direct patient care," whereas a lead instructor is more likely to list skills in "classroom management," "mathematics," "cpr," and "course content. "

Lead instructors earn the highest salary when working in the government industry, where they receive an average salary of $47,873. Comparatively, clinical professors have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $167,225.Most lead instructors achieve a lower degree level compared to clinical professors. For example, they're 8.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 25.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Clinical professor vs. French teacher

A french teacher specializes in teaching the french language among students. Although the extent of their responsibilities usually depends on their institution or company of employment, it usually includes preparing lessons and coursework plans, presenting audio and visual learning materials, organizing individual and group activities, administering examinations, grading quizzes and tests, and assisting students as necessary. Moreover, as a french teacher, it is essential to monitor the students' progress while maintaining a healthy and effective learning environment for everyone.

French teachers typically earn lower pay than clinical professors. On average, french teachers earn a $109,135 lower salary per year.While their salaries may vary, clinical professors and french teachers both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "curriculum development," "professional development," and "syllabus. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between clinical professors and french teachers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a clinical professor might have more use for skills like "patients," "internal medicine," "clinical practice," and "direct patient care." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of french teachers require skills like "classroom management," "foreign language," "language curriculum," and "literature. "

French teachers enjoy the best pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $50,105. For comparison, clinical professors earn the highest salary in the health care industry.french teachers reach higher levels of education compared to clinical professors, in general. The difference is that they're 6.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 25.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of clinical professor

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.

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