Clinical scientist vs scientist

The differences between clinical scientists and scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a clinical scientist and a scientist. Additionally, a clinical scientist has an average salary of $122,388, which is higher than the $97,344 average annual salary of a scientist.

The top three skills for a clinical scientist include patients, informed consent and clinical operations. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.

Clinical scientist vs scientist overview

	Clinical Scientist	Scientist
Yearly salary	$122,388	$97,344
Hourly rate	$58.84	$46.80
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	96,923	62,467
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

What does a clinical scientist do?

A clinical scientist's duties depend on their line of work or place of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around conducting experiments and research, gathering and preparing samples such as blood and tissues, analyzing and examining specimens through different processes, reviewing data and results, and coordinating with other scientists to develop medicines or treatments. They may also train new scientists, oversee assistants' performance, and maintain order in a laboratory. Furthermore, a clinical scientist may work in hospitals, clinics, private laboratories, learning institutions, or research facilities.

What does a scientist do?

A scientist is responsible for researching and analyzing the nature and complexities of the physical world to identify discoveries that would improve people's lives and ignite scientific knowledge for society. Scientists' duties differ in their different areas of expertise, but all of them must have a broad comprehension of scientific disciplines and methods to support their experiments and investigations. They collect the sample for their research, record findings, create research proposals, and release publications. A scientist must know how to utilize laboratory equipment to support the study and drive results efficiently and accurately.

Clinical scientist vs scientist salary

Clinical scientists and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clinical Scientist	Scientist
Average salary	$122,388	$97,344
Salary range	Between $94,000 And $157,000	Between $67,000 And $140,000
Highest paying City	Indianapolis, IN	Redwood City, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	Reata Pharmaceuticals	Airbnb
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Technology

Differences between clinical scientist and scientist education

There are a few differences between a clinical scientist and a scientist in terms of educational background:

	Clinical Scientist	Scientist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Biology	Chemistry
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Clinical scientist vs scientist demographics

Here are the differences between clinical scientists' and scientists' demographics:

	Clinical Scientist	Scientist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 37.0% Female, 63.0%	Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between clinical scientist and scientist duties and responsibilities

Clinical scientist example responsibilities.

Manage clinical monitors in successful completion of large international hypertension study.
Manage and work collaboratively with CRO management to initiate and update contract/consultancy agreements/amendments on an ongoing basis.
Function as member of the FDA audit preparation team in support of the filed NDA.
Conduct multiple HIPAA training sessions.
Identify grant funding opportunities and prepare scientific grant applications (NIH and non-NIH).
Review serious adverse event reports receive from other local country sectors for expediting to the FDA.

Scientist example responsibilities.

Lead a cross-functional team to return an HIV combination product to market on random-access instrument.
Design the VERIS HIV-1 quantitative PCR assay which achieve Conformit Europ enne (CE) marking.
Manage an elemental analytical laboratory that include operating, maintaining and troubleshooting an ICP-OES, ICPMS, MXRF, and IC.
Develop and manage third party claim investigations and contractor remedial oversight for various insurance companies.
Manage study protocols and study conduct, intimately involve in the toxicology and pharmacokinetic study protocol development process.
Manage sample inventory via in-house laboratory information management system (LIMS) and implement additional systems for sample and chemical organization.

Clinical scientist vs scientist skills

Common clinical scientist skills

Patients, 9%
Informed Consent, 6%
Clinical Operations, 5%
Oncology, 5%
Clinical Development, 5%
Clinical Data, 5%

Common scientist skills

Chemistry, 9%
Data Analysis, 7%
Patients, 7%
Molecular Biology, 4%
Cell Culture, 4%
Java, 3%

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Clinical Scientist
Clinical Scientist vs Scientist

Updated January 8, 2025

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