Medical Research Scientist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Medical Research Scientist conducts research with the goal of understanding diseases and improving human health. May study biology and causes of health problems, assess effectiveness of treatments or develop new pharmaceutical products. May direct clinical trials to gather data..

Job Outlook

There were 296 Medical Research Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 8447 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Medical Scientist industry, which includes the Medical Research Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Medical Research Scientist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $100,541.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $102,739.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Medical Research Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $77,308.

Education and Experience

Posted Medical Research Scientist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	27.67%
Master's Degree	14.48%
Doctoral Degree	32.46%
Other	2.08%

Posted Medical Research Scientist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	52.84%
3 to 5 years	35.4%
6 to 8 years	6.33%
9+ years	5.42%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Medical Research Scientist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Research (76.24%)
Communication (20.28%)
Writing (17.91%)
Presentations (16.74%)
Management (14.62%)
Operations (9.94%)
Leadership (8.95%)
Quality Control (8.75%)
Detail Oriented (8.45%)
Innovation (8.18%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Type 2 Diabetes (8.9%)
Clinical Research (20.48%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) (8.6%)
Translational Research (9.36%)
Research Experiences (11.38%)
Research Methodologies (5.72%)
Project Management (5.39%)
Oncology (10.78%)
Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (3.92%)
Health Sciences (3.33%)
Standard Operating Procedure (4.82%)
Pathology (4.2%)
Diabetes Mellitus (13.66%)
Data Collection (16.08%)
Data Management (5.49%)
Immunology (10.8%)
Medical Laboratory (9.3%)
Clinical Research Coordination (3.8%)
Clinical Trials (17.83%)
Hematology (5.07%)
Biochemistry (9.62%)
Molecular Biology (13.91%)
Biology (23.8%)
Medical Research (16.07%)
Data Analysis (14.21%)
Cell Cultures (10.97%)
Cell Biology (9.33%)
Biochemical Assays (9.76%)
Laboratory Equipment (8.97%)
Laboratory Procedures (9.81%)
Grant Applications (6.28%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Clinical Research (71.24%)
Type 2 Diabetes (30.96%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Medical Research Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Medical Laboratory Scientist
Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Specialist
Postdoctoral Scientist
Research Scientist
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Research Associate
Research Fellow
Scientist
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Medical Research Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Cedars-Sinai (446)
University of Pennsylvania (206)
Geisinger Health System (124)
University of Miami (119)
Mayo Clinic (100)
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (92)
Cleveland Clinic (85)
University of Colorado System Office (83)
City of Hope (82)
University of Minnesota (79)

North Carolina

Atrium Health (39)
Accellacare (35)
Duke University (19)
Archway Physician Recruitment (14)
Novant Health (12)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (9)
University of North Carolina (9)
North Carolina State University (9)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (3)
Wake Research Corporation (2)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Science and Research