Precision Medicine Specialists

Employers

Precision medicine specialists are employed by hospitals and clinics that provide precision medicine care to patients. They conduct research at hospitals, biotechnology firms, and government agencies (including the National Institute of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute and Office of Biotechnology Activities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Science Foundation). Precision medicine specialists also teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Some schools have research centers and institutes. Examples include the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Precision Medicine and the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

Starting Out

Precision medicine specialists typically enter the field after earning degrees in medicine, genetics, nursing, pharmacology, or related fields and augmenting this training with additional coursework and internships, fellowships, and/or rotations in precision medicine.

Job-search options include networking, creating a LinkedIn profile and using the site’s employment resources, attending career fairs, working with a recruiter, and visiting the career Web sites of potential employers. Opportunities with the federal government can be accessed by visiting http://www.usajobs.gov or the Web sites of specific agencies. Some people learn about job leads because of contacts that they made during internships, fellowships, or other experiential learning opportunities. Those who would like to teach or conduct research at the college level can learn about open positions in professional journals and in the Chronicle of Higher Education (https://jobs.chronicle.com).