What are careers in clinical research?

Clinical laboratory scientists, microbiologists, and researchers are careers in clinical research. For more information on these careers and others in clinical research, reference this guide:

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

What is a clinical researcher and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Friedbert Ninow Ph.D.

A clinical researcher leads clinical trials or studies, which are medical research experiments that test the effectiveness of new medicines or treatments on people. Clinical researchers work with the rest of the team to design research experiments such as clinical trials or natural history analysis. They conduct the experiments and analyze results, sometimes using computer programming like GUI tools to collect and analyze data. However, clinical researchers are also in charge of the administrative aspects of clinical experiments. They ensure proper documentation of results and make sure that the study follows relevant ethical guidelines and government regulations.

Many clinical researchers have a bachelor's degree in medicine or biology, while others go on to earn more advanced degrees such as a master's or a doctorate.

Clinical researchers also need practical experience working in a laboratory before they can lead experiments themselves. Most have a few years' experience working as interns or research assistants. Once they become full-fledged clinical researchers, they can earn an average salary of $51,362 a year.

What general advice would you give to a clinical researcher?

Friedbert Ninow Ph.D.

Dean, La Sierra University

A degree in theological and ministerial studies (or more generally in Religious Studies) does not necessarily have to lead into pastoral ministry. There are many opportunities where a Religion degree is a good foundation: Chaplaincy (e.g., Hospital, Army, Jail, etc.), Politics & Society, Journalism, Health Sciences, Arts, etc.

General advice: Let your heart speak first, not possible career chances or salary perspectives, etc. (I understand that this is important, too).

ScoreClinical ResearcherUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,453

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.6

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 13.46%

Black or African American 2.47%

Hispanic or Latino 13.96%

Unknown 7.43%

White 62.17%

Gender

female 61.67%

male 38.33%

Age - 43.5

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 - 43.5

Stress level

5.6

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a clinical researcher

Explore clinical researcher education requirements

Most common clinical researcher degrees

Bachelor's

57.7 %

Master's

19.5 %

Doctorate

12.5 %

Start to develop specific clinical researcher skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	15.66%
Informed Consent	11.71%
IRB	9.93%
Clinical Trials	7.99%
Data Collection	7.68%

Complete relevant clinical researcher training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clinical researchers 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 researcher based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clinical researcher resumes.

Research clinical researcher duties and responsibilities

Manage site master file contents and work with sites to ensure communication requirements between site and IRB are adhere to.
Establish and maintain strong community partnerships to achieve HIV prevention objectives.
Maintain study database to in compliance with FDA regulations.
Perform NIH studies, coordinate interviews of clinical research trial participant's.

Prepare your clinical researcher resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clinical researcher 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 researcher 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 researcher resume templates

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