Research staff member vs doctoral fellow

The differences between research staff members 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 research staff member and a doctoral fellow. Additionally, a research staff member has an average salary of $110,035, which is higher than the $53,366 average annual salary of a doctoral fellow.

The top three skills for a research staff member include python, machine learning and research projects. The most important skills for a doctoral fellow are patients, cell culture, and data analysis.

Research staff member vs doctoral fellow overview

	Research Staff Member	Doctoral Fellow
Yearly salary	$110,035	$53,366
Hourly rate	$52.90	$25.66
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	118,661	22,661
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

What does a research staff member do?

A Research Staff Member is a part of the research team who will assist in the entire research project. The staff member will work on various research stages and assist in collating information from different sources. One of the research staff members' responsibilities is to understand all facets of conducting research, get all government policies regarding the particular topic in research, and ensure that all procedures are legal and ethical. The research staff member is a broad term for a person part of a research team and is often given specific tasks when one is officially part of the team.

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.

Research staff member vs doctoral fellow salary

Research staff members and doctoral fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Research Staff Member	Doctoral Fellow
Average salary	$110,035	$53,366
Salary range	Between $77,000 And $156,000	Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Connecticut	Hawaii
Best paying company	PARC	IBM
Best paying industry	Technology	Pharmaceutical

Differences between research staff member and doctoral fellow education

There are a few differences between a research staff member and a doctoral fellow in terms of educational background:

	Research Staff Member	Doctoral Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Research staff member vs doctoral fellow demographics

Here are the differences between research staff members' and doctoral fellows' demographics:

	Research Staff Member	Doctoral Fellow
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1%	Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.2% White, 53.1% 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 research staff member and doctoral fellow duties and responsibilities

Research staff member example responsibilities.

Invent and develop new (user) input technology then lead the design and prototyping of its applications.
Design, analyze, and oversee HIV relate research projects including IRB protocol.
Perform testing for urinalysis, blood sugar, EKG, eye examinations, and blood pressure.
Prove that single amino acid changes affect protein oligomerization as well as DNA / RNA - protein binding.
Develop advance visualization components and diagrams using C++ third party libraries.
Research chemistry and biology projects pertaining to the synthesis of gamma amino derivatives

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.

Research staff member vs doctoral fellow skills

Common research staff member skills

Python, 17%
Machine Learning, 14%
Research Projects, 6%
DOE, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%
Java, 4%

Common doctoral fellow skills

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

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Research Staff Member vs Doctoral Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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