A Career as a Medical Scientist

 

If you want to study and be something that is lesser known, you should become a medical scientist. Medical Scientists basically conduct laboratory tests for diagnosing diseases and provide information on the treatment and prevention of the disease. A medical scientist can specialize in any of the following areas like haematology, immunology, transfusion science, clinical biochemistry, microbiology, histopathology, cytology, molecular genetics or virology. A medical scientist is also known to conduct research and come to a conclusion using clinical trials and other investigative methods among other duties. This must have got you hyped up and you probably want to know more! Well, this is truly an interesting career choice.

Requirements

The minimum requirement or prerequisite for a medical scientist is a bachelor's degree in medicine or biomedical science. To get into a university offering either a medical or biomedical science degree you need to have a minimum mark in the 12th grade examinations. But then you would also have to write the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and obtain ranks to get into different universities. Different universities have different requirements and some offer flexible entry requirements. To study abroad, countries have different procedures. Some European countries just want an aggregate of 50% or above in the 12th grade examinations and you should have cleared the NEET examination. Other countries like the US, need you to take a local examination to make you eligible to apply for medical schools in the US. Moreover, some students take up the career after their masters.

This does not mean that anybody can apply. Often you will have to deal with a lot of pressure and moreover the lives of people are at stake. So there are some personal requirements to meet too. If you feel like you have all the necessary skills then please do join for the program and choose a career as a medical scientist. Some of the skills include being able to make observations, you should be able to work under pressure, you should have attention to details and you should be able to apply your knowledge into the problem at hand. These are very important if you want to have a career as a medical scientist.

What does a Medical Scientist actually do?

The role of a Medical Scientist and its importance and value is probably the most needed during a time like this. One of their duties is to research and find the  perfect cure to a disease and its prevention. They write grant proposals to the government or other agencies for funding research and then conduct clinical trials and other methods to arrive at a conclusion and publish scientific papers and researches. Also, they are responsible to make sure that the cure being sent out is ready to be manufactured on a large scale and can be sent out to the masses to cure particular diseases. They also conduct research on the pathogens and all their properties and publish those results as a scientific paper. This is especially helpful during the present crisis of the Corona virus. At a time where there is no vaccine, it is crucial that medical scientists gather as much information they can about the virus and then publish the results so that an effective cure can be developed. 

A good verbal communication is necessary because a medical scientist has to make the findings of a research clear and understandable to the people reading it. They have to write a lot of research papers and scientific papers in their career. Also, they have to write grant proposals so that they can obtain funding for research. If they want to make the objective of a research clear to the agency offering the funds, without good communication skills that will not be possible. Not only that, they spend most of their time in laboratories. So they need to be familiarized with setting up and using laboratory equipment too. Then they find out other mysterious and curious phenomena and try to find out the supernatural activity behind them.

They find out the reason for pathogens getting resistant to antibiotics or the cause of AIDS, Dementia, Alzheimer's diseases or even cancer and finding a cure for them and researching for better treatment. Basically they are much needed in today's world especially in this generation where population is skyrocketing and diseases among the cold are increasing rapidly and with new viruses and pathogens causing epidemics and pandemics. They are also responsible for analyzing blood samples for underlying diseases and also examining tissues and culturing them for various purposes. With the analysis of tissue, blood and body fluid analysis, medical scientists develop aids in the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases.

Employability

The 21st century has surely seen a spike in the rate of medical scientists. This is necessary too because of the unforeseen dangers in the medical world the 21st century has brought us. The employment rate is expected to increase by 8% till the year 2028. Even though the skill rating is high, you get paid for the skill that you have. Since the skill rating is very high for a medical scientist the pay is accordingly too. The level of unemployment is very low, be it in India or abroad.

So basically if you have good communication skills, critical-thinking skills and data-analysis skills, you are good to be a medical scientist. This is just a simple overview of how to be a medical scientist and what is it that a medical scientist does. Hope this gave you an understanding of a career as a medical scientist.

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