How Do I Become a Medical Professional? - Medical Scientist Training. Jobs and Salaries Increase 2012 - 2022.

We hear a lot about health and medical professions increasing in new job titles, in numbers of positions, and in salaries and benefits in the 21st Century. We know that this is attributable to the aging populations of Canada and America and the fact that the fastest-growing age cohort since the early 1990s is females over 80 years of age. With longevity comes the medical conditions and diseases inherent to the aging progress. A professor of mine once said that it would be be good to live out that longevity in the best of health possible and to die suddenly, without medical suffering. Health professions and the field of medicine today strive to accomplish that goal.

In addition to the events of aging, new technologies are available to help people from birth to old age. One of these advances is the range of at-home health screening kits that are becoming available, some scannable with a cell phone app. Another advance is the growing of organs through the use of powdered pig tissue in a matrix application in the laboratory and in the patient when surgically applied. A third advance is the new universe of prosthetic devices, some that have come very near allowing amputees to compete in the Olympic Games rather than the Paralympics. One of the most recent advances is the Canadian discovery of a process by which a patient's own skin cells can be changed into blood for transfusions.

The concept of traveling and living in outer space and on other planets opens a new variety of research and emerging jobs in the 2010s. The book The Hazards of Space Travel, A Tourist's Guide by Neil F. Comins, PhD is a good look into that future. Dr. Comins gives some reality-based scenarios and how to overcome them. Living in space won't be the easiest feat, but can be done.

All of these futuristic developments and many more lead medical and health careers to be on the list of Top 10 Jobs for the future in the USA. While other job titles on the list are forecast to increase significantly by 2020, health and medical jobs will easily increase through 2030, 2050, and the end of the century.

A total of 6 out of the Top 10 highest demand jobs forecasted through 2020 by Kiplinger Magazine are health and medical professions. All but one require at least a 4-year college degree.

• Biomedical Engineers - Bachelors Degree
• Personal and Home Care Aides - Short-Term OJT (on the job training) - short-term certificatre training available in some areas of the country. Similar to Home Health Aides.
• Medical Scientists - Doctorate* - Predicted to increase in numbers by 40% or 44,000+ jobs from 2010 - 2020. By the end of 9/2010, the increase was already at 8% across 18 months.
• Physician’s Assistant - Masters Degree
• Biochemists/Biophysicists - Doctorate
• Athletic Trainers - Bachelor Degree

*This Hub discusses the qualifications and training required for Medical Scientist, below.

Individuals can begin in the Home Health Aide or Personal Care Aide position and work up to Physician, given available opportunities for educational grants and workplace tuition reimbursement programs, as described below.

During Easter Week 2012, over 11,000 jobs as Medical Scientist were available across the Internet in all related job postings. Salaries are falling between $40,000 minimum to above $120,000 per year, with benefits. Most of the jobs fall between $60,000 to $110,000.

During Thanksgiving Week 2010, over 10,300 jobs as a Medical Scientist or a related position were listed on Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com in America, with most annual salaries falling between $30,000 to $90,000, the largest spike being at $50K - $70K.

Not all of these positions required a PhD (Doctorate degree), as the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the US Department of Labor lists in their qualifications data. However, the highest-paid positions in medical science are in the highest educational levels. Individuals that earn a PhD and an MD have the most advantages in the field of medical science.

1. Cleveland Clinic Foundation
2. Pharmadiversity
3. Kelly Scientific Resources
4. California Correctional Health Care
5. Lighthouse Recruiting
6. Aerotek
7. Quest Diagnostics
8. Beckman Coulter
9. SUNY Upstate
10. Albany Medical Center
11. Beckman Coulter
12. Kaiser Permanente
13. US Navy
14. Genzyme Corporation
15. Weill Cornell Medical College
16. Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies
17. Cedars-Sinai
18. Eli Lilly and Company
19. Merck
20. Elsevier

The Top 7 Locations for these jobs are

1. Albany NY,
2. Los Angeles,
3. Seattle,
4. Cambridge MA,
5. Indianapolis,
6. San Francisco,
7. Boston

Students interested in medical science study the STEM courses in the high school years: Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Sciences include biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science. Botany is useful in its relationship to human health, vaccines, and medicines. English language and grammar and writing are of the utmost important in American positions. Mathematics extends into trigonometry and calculus for this career field. High School AP Courses sometimes fullfil the undergraduate requirements of a pre-medical science program -- check with the individual college.

A standard course of study at the university level is the PhD Program in Biological Sciences, requiring 6+ years work. Specialties can include genetics, pathology, and bioinformatics. A combination MD-PhD program is often offered at medical colleges, requiring 7 or 8 years of clinical and research training. Drug administration, gene therapies, blood draws, and invasive procedures in research require a medical license with the local state board.

At the same time, some Masters Degree Level workers in medical science are also successful in appropriate positions, having completed Masters level work in the same courses.