How To Become A Medical Scientist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a medical scientist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Amber Watts Ph.D.

People who are genuinely interested in creating an impact in the medical field can pursue the career of a medical scientist. Besides, there is no better way to do that than by saving lives. The main purpose of medical scientists is to improve human health by studying diseases, symptoms, and conditions. By researching various medical resources, they determine the causes of diseases and develop ways for prevention or treatment.

People who are planning to pursue their career as medical scientists need to have a bachelor's degree in chemistry, biology, or a relevant field. Good writing and communication skills play a key part in developing yourself as a medical scientist because writing grants and publishing your research findings is what you will do.

Working as a medical scientist, you can make more than $31 per hour, which amounts to $64,480 in a year. As expected, the job opportunities for this position in the US will grow in the coming years.

What general advice would you give to a medical scientist?

Amber Watts Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Kansas

Think about what you want your life to look like, not just your job. Your job has to fit into your life. Do you want a fast paced, achievement-oriented job that may require sacrificing hobbies, family, and relationships? Or would you rather have a regular 40 hour a week job that allows you to balance things out a bit? Is money your primary aim or career advancement? Or helping others? Do you want to work in an office at a desk? Work directly with people? Do you mind traveling for the job? These are all things to consider. Don't forget, too, that the other people you work with can often be more important to job satisfaction than the actual work that you do.

ScoreMedical ScientistUS Average

Salary

6.9

Avg. Salary $88,852

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.15%

Asian 26.41%

Black or African American 6.34%

Hispanic or Latino 9.57%

Unknown 4.09%

White 53.44%

Gender

female 58.49%

male 41.51%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a medical scientist

Explore medical scientist education requirements

Most common medical scientist degrees

Bachelor's

52.9 %

Doctorate

25.4 %

Master's

13.0 %

Start to develop specific medical scientist skills

Skills	Percentages
Clinical Trials	18.92%
Regulatory Submissions	7.42%
Advisory Boards	6.87%
Risk Management	6.84%
External Stakeholders	6.67%

Complete relevant medical scientist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medical scientists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medical scientist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medical scientist resumes.

Research medical scientist duties and responsibilities

Manage clinical monitors in successful completion of large international hypertension study.
Conduct technology comparison study to assess applicability of a wide range of chromatography products to support specific HTS assays.
Analyze parallel synthesis libraries using high-throughput LC/MS methods with UV/ELS detection including mass determination, purity evaluation, and quantification.

Prepare your medical scientist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medical scientist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medical scientist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable medical scientist resume templates

Build a professional medical scientist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your medical scientist resume.