Medical investigator vs scientist

The differences between medical investigators 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 medical investigator and a scientist. Additionally, a scientist has an average salary of $97,344, which is higher than the $77,976 average annual salary of a medical investigator.

The top three skills for a medical investigator include law enforcement agencies, subpoenas and medical history. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.

Medical investigator vs scientist overview

	Medical Investigator	Scientist
Yearly salary	$77,976	$97,344
Hourly rate	$37.49	$46.80
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	49,363	62,467
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Medical investigator vs scientist salary

Medical investigators and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Investigator	Scientist
Average salary	$77,976	$97,344
Salary range	Between $43,000 And $141,000	Between $67,000 And $140,000
Highest paying City	Memphis, TN	Redwood City, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	Yoh	Airbnb
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between medical investigator and scientist education

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

	Medical Investigator	Scientist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	University of Southern California

Medical investigator vs scientist demographics

Here are the differences between medical investigators' and scientists' demographics:

	Medical Investigator	Scientist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 39.4% Female, 60.6%	Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 23.8% White, 55.9% 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 medical investigator and scientist duties and responsibilities

Medical investigator example responsibilities.

Manage and facilitate manuscript preparation of oncology clinical trials results arising from currently market and pipeline drugs.
Identify trends and establish corrective procedures to maintain FDA compliance and customer satisfaction.
Supervise activities of analytical cellular and molecular immunology laboratories.
Perform QC of various documents to include PSURs, PADERs, CSRs, CTDs, and other regulatory aggregate reports.
Supervise activities of analytical cellular and molecular immunology laboratories.

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.

Medical investigator vs scientist skills

Common medical investigator skills

Law Enforcement Agencies, 11%
Subpoenas, 11%
Medical History, 9%
Body Fluids, 8%
Physician Assistants, 7%
Medicaid, 5%

Common scientist skills

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

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Medical Investigator
Medical Investigator vs Scientist

Updated January 8, 2025

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