Principle investigator vs doctoral fellow

The differences between principle investigators and doctoral fellows can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a principle investigator and a doctoral fellow. Additionally, a principle investigator has an average salary of $78,325, which is higher than the $53,366 average annual salary of a doctoral fellow.

The top three skills for a principle investigator include GPS, data collection and PI. The most important skills for a doctoral fellow are patients, cell culture, and data analysis.

Principle investigator vs doctoral fellow overview

	Principle Investigator	Doctoral Fellow
Yearly salary	$78,325	$53,366
Hourly rate	$37.66	$25.66
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	5,554	22,661
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Principle investigator vs doctoral fellow salary

Principle investigators and doctoral fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Principle Investigator	Doctoral Fellow
Average salary	$78,325	$53,366
Salary range	Between $46,000 And $133,000	Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	IBM
Best paying industry	-	Pharmaceutical

Differences between principle investigator and doctoral fellow education

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

	Principle Investigator	Doctoral Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Most common major	Psychology	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Principle investigator vs doctoral fellow demographics

Here are the differences between principle investigators' and doctoral fellows' demographics:

	Principle Investigator	Doctoral Fellow
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 49.9% Female, 50.1%	Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black 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%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between principle investigator and doctoral fellow duties and responsibilities

Principle investigator example responsibilities.

Manage outsource projects, and interact with vendors for API sourcing, and device components base on project needs.
Promote to perform sequence analysis and identify target primer sites for the development of PCR assays for bacterial species.
Synthesize and analyze experimental data using IBM SPSS.
Investigate the toxicology and efficacy of bioresorbable, polymer-base medical devices and extend release drug delivery system.
Supervise activities of analytical cellular and molecular immunology laboratories.
Supervise activities of analytical cellular and molecular immunology laboratories.

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.

Principle investigator vs doctoral fellow skills

Common principle investigator skills

GPS, 9%
Data Collection, 8%
PI, 8%
Literature Reviews, 8%
Data Analysis, 6%
Research Projects, 5%

Common doctoral fellow skills

Patients, 8%
Cell Culture, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%
Research Projects, 5%
Cell Biology, 5%
Immunology, 5%

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Principle Investigator
Principle Investigator vs Doctoral Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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