Medical Scientists

Employers

Approximately 130,700 medical scientists are employed in the United States. About 34 percent work in research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences. Major employers include pharmaceutical and biotech companies, colleges and universities, government agencies, nonprofit research organizations, medical offices, and hospitals.

Starting Out

Good ways to land a job in the field include via contacts made through postdoctoral positions or networking events; college career services offices; employment Web sites; the Web sites of professional associations such as the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics; and newspaper want ads. If you would like to work for the federal government, you should visit the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Web site, https://www.usajobs.gov.