Clinical scientist vs staff scientist

The differences between clinical scientists and staff 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 staff scientist. Additionally, a clinical scientist has an average salary of $122,388, which is higher than the $93,941 average annual salary of a staff scientist.

The top three skills for a clinical scientist include patients, informed consent and clinical operations. The most important skills for a staff scientist are data analysis, research projects, and molecular biology.

Clinical scientist vs staff scientist overview

	Clinical Scientist	Staff Scientist
Yearly salary	$122,388	$93,941
Hourly rate	$58.84	$45.16
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	96,923	121,054
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 staff scientist do?

The primary role of a Staff Scientist is to develop and manage scientific research projects with minimal supervision. They are also responsible for the technical and budgetary aspects of scientific research projects.

Clinical scientist vs staff scientist salary

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

	Clinical Scientist	Staff Scientist
Average salary	$122,388	$93,941
Salary range	Between $94,000 And $157,000	Between $63,000 And $137,000
Highest paying City	Indianapolis, IN	Redwood City, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	Reata Pharmaceuticals	Etsy
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Technology

Differences between clinical scientist and staff scientist education

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

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

Clinical scientist vs staff scientist demographics

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

	Clinical Scientist	Staff Scientist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 37.0% Female, 63.0%	Male, 67.8% Female, 32.2%
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, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between clinical scientist and staff 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.

Staff scientist example responsibilities.

Lead efforts to replace a critical radioactive immunoassay with a non-radioactive format to measure clinical samples.
Manage clinical sample testing using MSD and ELISA in LIMS, including data review and approval using LIMS.
Assist in managing and maintenance of HPLC and Prep-HPLC systems to ensure maximum productivity for the process development group.
Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
Assist with RNA and DNA extractions from FFPE tissue and blood.
Supervise temps performing HPLC assays and validations during development and production campaigns under GMP conditions.

Clinical scientist vs staff scientist skills

Common clinical scientist skills

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

Common staff scientist skills

Data Analysis, 9%
Research Projects, 7%
Molecular Biology, 5%
Next-Generation Sequencing, 4%
Statistical Analysis, 4%
RNA, 4%

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Clinical Scientist
Clinical Scientist vs Staff Scientist

Updated January 8, 2025

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