Post job

Doctoral fellow vs scientist

The differences between doctoral fellows 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 doctoral fellow and a scientist. Additionally, a scientist has an average salary of $97,344, which is higher than the $53,366 average annual salary of a doctoral fellow.

The top three skills for a doctoral fellow include patients, cell culture and data analysis. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.

Doctoral fellow vs scientist overview

Doctoral FellowScientist
Yearly salary$53,366$97,344
Hourly rate$25.66$46.80
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs22,66162,467
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeDoctoral Degree, 46%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age4141
Years of experience44

What does a doctoral fellow do?

A doctoral fellow is a physician that has completed studies and receives a fellowship to cover his/her or her expenses while completing his/her or her medical dissertation. A doctor fellow undergoes this fellowship to get additional training for their chosen sub-specialty. During the fellowship period, a fellow can act as an attending physician or consultant physician with other physicians' direct supervision in the sub-specialty field.

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.

Doctoral fellow vs scientist salary

Doctoral fellows and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Doctoral FellowScientist
Average salary$53,366$97,344
Salary rangeBetween $39,000 And $72,000Between $67,000 And $140,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CARedwood City, CA
Highest paying stateHawaiiCalifornia
Best paying companyIBMAirbnb
Best paying industryPharmaceuticalTechnology

Differences between doctoral fellow and scientist education

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

Doctoral FellowScientist
Most common degreeDoctoral Degree, 46%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common majorChemistryChemistry
Most common collegeDuke UniversityUniversity of Southern California

Doctoral fellow vs scientist demographics

Here are the differences between doctoral fellows' and scientists' demographics:

Doctoral FellowScientist
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 55.3% Female, 44.7%Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 32.9% White, 47.6% 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 Percentage8%8%

Differences between doctoral fellow and scientist duties and responsibilities

Doctoral fellow example responsibilities.

  • Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
  • Attend courses in drug discovery, python programming, and next-generation sequencing analyses.
  • Coordinate the validation of data aquisition algorithms (C++, python) for all real and simulate data.
  • Conduct custom synthesis of organic molecules, key intermediates and building blocks for medicinal chemistry applications.
  • Design PCL/PLCL drug delivery system for DC immunotherapy.
  • Succeed in using CRISPR to genetically correct diseas iPSCs.
  • Show more

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.
  • Show more

Doctoral fellow vs scientist skills

Common doctoral fellow skills
  • Patients, 8%
  • Cell Culture, 6%
  • Data Analysis, 5%
  • Research Projects, 5%
  • Cell Biology, 5%
  • Immunology, 5%
Common scientist skills
  • Chemistry, 9%
  • Data Analysis, 7%
  • Patients, 7%
  • Molecular Biology, 4%
  • Cell Culture, 4%
  • Java, 3%

Browse life, physical, and social science jobs