Many of us enjoy learning about topics like plants, weather, or rocks, but did you know that you can make a career out of your love for science? Scientist is a job title, just like carpenter, firefighter, or lawyer. At NIGMS, we work to get students interested in careers in health science. Read on to learn about some of the different jobs that biomedical scientists do and the level of education they require. (Find more info on the different education paths in our first post of this series.) And who knows, maybe this post will spark your interest in pursuing one of these jobs in the future!
Principal Investigator at an Academic Institution or Government Organization
One scientific job option is to become a principal investigator—a researcher who’s head of a laboratory or research project—at a college/university or a government organization such as the National Institutes of Health. Either way, as a principal investigator, you’d start your own lab to answer questions about a scientific area and hire people to help you. In addition to lab work, you would stay up to date on trending research topics, travel to conferences to present the lab’s results, and, if at an academic or other private institution, write applications for research funding. Principal investigators at colleges and universities may also teach; for some, this is a required part of the job, but for others, it’s something they can choose to do.
This job requires a doctoral degree, like a Ph.D. or an M.D., and, often, postdoctoral training. However, labs at universities or government organizations are staffed with people at different educational levels:
- Bachelor’s, master’s, or even Ph.D. degree holders (typically as research technicians or lab managers)
- Students working toward a master’s degree or a Ph.D.
- Postdoctoral researchers
Scientist at a Pharmaceutical, Agricultural, or Other Private Industrial Company
Like universities, private companies also hire scientists to lead or be part of research labs. There are a few key differences in how you might conduct research at a private company, like how the topic of your research is chosen and how the research is funded, but the goals are the same: ask scientific questions, design experiments to answer them, and make discoveries. There’s a range of industries you might work in. For example, you might join a team of scientists at a pharmaceutical company developing a new treatment for a disease or a group at an agricultural company working on a new drought-resistant crop. At a food production company, you may be hired to oversee quality control to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria.
High-ranking jobs at private companies often require a Ph.D. However, jobs for those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree also exist at these types of companies, and they’re a great way to get more experience and learn what day-to-day lab work looks like before deciding whether to commit to graduate school.
Regulatory Affairs, Science Policy, or Grants Management Specialist
The government plays a big role in research and public health. It makes laws and publishes guidelines surrounding many medical or scientific topics, such as regulations for the safety and efficacy of new medical devices and limits to chemical and microbial contaminants in our drinking water.
You can find many jobs related to the government’s role in science. For example, you could become a regulatory affairs specialist. People in this role oversee private companies’ research methods and products to make sure that they’re in compliance with laws that govern their product type, such as medical devices, medicines, cosmetics, or food.
Or you may be interested in science policy. Science policy specialists are often trained in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field but work side by side with government officials to ensure that the laws and recommendations they pass are supported by current scientific knowledge. For example, you could train to be an environmental scientist and produce a report on local water pollution that lawmakers could use to understand how a proposed law could affect water quality.
Another important role of the government in science is providing
money—for example, in the form of grants—to many institutions to fund their research programs. You could support this role by working in grants management with a governmental research agency. A grants manager oversees all steps in the grant process, including making the initial announcement, reviewing applications and eligibility, and monitoring awardee success.
Workers in regulatory affairs, science policy, and grants management usually have a master’s degree or a Ph.D. in a scientific discipline, as well as a familiarity with the U.S. government.
Science Communicator
The field of science communication focuses on sharing scientific knowledge and advances with the public. There are many science communication roles you could enter, each with a different subject, audience, or main goal. For example, you might work for a government organization or a local science museum on projects to get students excited about science. This could include making age-appropriate lesson plans that introduce students to experiments, developing educational materials, or even visiting local classrooms to do science demonstrations. Check out our science education webpage to find the different materials we develop here at NIGMS, including our image and video gallery and scientific glossary.
Science communicators may also write informative summaries for the public on a wide variety of topics, like health conditions, environmental topics such as the importance of protecting wildlife in national parks, or physical science topics like how the moon and sun affect the tides. Some communicators work for journals that publish the results of scientific experiments, where they edit articles or write research summaries.
Jobs in science communication usually require at least a bachelor’s or master’s degree in science and a familiarity with education and/or writing, or, alternatively, a degree in communications and a familiarity with science.
If you’re interested in health science, there are many job opportunities for you to pursue, even more than those listed above. For instance, you could be a nurse, teacher, or physical therapist, which are all great careers with science at their center. Check out my Individual Development Plan (myIDP)—a free career planning tool designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral researchers find careers aligned with their specific interests and skills for more help.
So, do any biomedical science careers spark your interest?
Learn more in our Educator’s Corner.
