How To Become A Pharmacologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pharmacologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a pharmacologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $48.77 an hour? That's $101,437 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 20,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePharmacologistUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $101,437

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.15%

Asian 26.21%

Black or African American 6.57%

Hispanic or Latino 9.85%

Unknown 4.16%

White 53.06%

Gender

female 55.96%

male 44.04%

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 pharmacologist

Explore pharmacologist education requirements

Most common pharmacologist degrees

Bachelor's

64.1 %

Doctorate

20.4 %

Master's

10.7 %

Start to develop specific pharmacologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Analysis	15.29%
Preclinical	11.17%
Clinical Development	10.28%
Biomarkers	8.89%
Sops	7.95%

Complete relevant pharmacologist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pharmacologists 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 pharmacologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pharmacologist resumes.

Research pharmacologist duties and responsibilities

Develop strategies for the CMC teams to achieve global regulatory compliance.
Stay inform about FDA regulations.
Evaluate the safety, distribution, pharmacokinetics, and bioavailability of investigational new drugs and drug delivery systems.
Develop, validate and implement robust methods for pharmacokinetic, immunogenicity (ADA) and immunodepletion ELISAs, and cell based-bioassays.

Prepare your pharmacologist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pharmacologist 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 pharmacologist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable pharmacologist resume templates

Build a professional pharmacologist 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 pharmacologist resume.