Clinical scientist vs senior research fellow

The differences between clinical scientists and senior research fellows 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 senior research fellow. Additionally, a clinical scientist has an average salary of $122,388, which is higher than the $62,129 average annual salary of a senior research fellow.

The top three skills for a clinical scientist include patients, informed consent and clinical operations. The most important skills for a senior research fellow are python, research projects, and data analysis.

Clinical scientist vs senior research fellow overview

	Clinical Scientist	Senior Research Fellow
Yearly salary	$122,388	$62,129
Hourly rate	$58.84	$29.87
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	96,923	53,535
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
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 senior research fellow do?

Senior Research Fellows are reputable researchers employed in an academic institution or a research facility. The nature of their employment in the institution is related to their research work or field of interest. Senior Research Fellows lead a team of researchers on big projects that require more team members. They manage the team's budget, set timelines, and guide the researchers. They spearhead the analysis of the data gathered. They also set the tone for the presentation materials. Senior Research Fellows should be passionate about their field, should have a thirst for knowledge, and should be able to lead teams.

Clinical scientist vs senior research fellow salary

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

	Clinical Scientist	Senior Research Fellow
Average salary	$122,388	$62,129
Salary range	Between $94,000 And $157,000	Between $40,000 And $95,000
Highest paying City	Indianapolis, IN	Urban Honolulu, HI
Highest paying state	Alaska	Hawaii
Best paying company	Reata Pharmaceuticals	Google
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	-

Differences between clinical scientist and senior research fellow education

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

	Clinical Scientist	Senior Research Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common major	Biology	Chemistry
Most common college	University of Southern California	Duke University

Clinical scientist vs senior research fellow demographics

Here are the differences between clinical scientists' and senior research fellows' demographics:

	Clinical Scientist	Senior Research Fellow
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 37.0% Female, 63.0%	Male, 56.1% Female, 43.9%
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, 6.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between clinical scientist and senior research fellow 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.

Senior research fellow example responsibilities.

Lead a project aim at improving DNA yields from various soil types in Dr. Connell's lab.
Manage grant base research and submit the grant proposal to ICAR and get approved for fund research.
Mentore a graduate student on the following topics: study design, literature reviews, drafting data plans and SAS.
Contribute to the creation of new markup standards for scholarship in the humanities.
Research unidentify payments and patients.
Conduct long-term observations of grind water dynamics and chemistry.

Clinical scientist vs senior research fellow skills

Common clinical scientist skills

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

Common senior research fellow skills

Python, 12%
Research Projects, 8%
Data Analysis, 6%
C++, 6%
Research Findings, 5%
Data Collection, 4%

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Clinical Scientist vs Senior Research Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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