A career in medical research
Medical research continues to expand with each major new discovery and technical innovation. It offers those with scientific ability a wide choice of opportunities to put their talents to work to improve human health. This page, which is aimed at general audiences, looks at what medical research involves, what it can offer as a career and typical entry level requirements.
- What does medical research involve?
- Where do medical researchers work?
- Typical entry-level requirements
What does medical research involve?
Medical researchers investigate human diseases in order to improve human health. ‘Basic’ medical researchers work at the level of cells and molecules, to increase knowledge about processes in the body and other living organisms, including viruses, bacteria, and other infectious agents. Their work could, for example, involve identifying for the first time changes in a cell or in DNA that indicate the development of a disease, such as different types of cancer.
This basic medical research provides the starting point for developing solutions to health problems - such as drug therapies and vaccines - through translational research. For example, medical scientists working in translational research may use a basic discovery about how cancerous cells behave to develop a drug that will block this behaviour or reduce its effects. Basic research can also give rise to new research tools and techniques, some of which have medical applications.
Today, many medical researchers are involved in genetic engineering- isolating, identifying, and sequencing human genes and then determining their function. This work has led to, and continues to lead to the discovery of the genes associated with specific diseases and inherited traits, such as certain types of cancer or obesity. These advances in biotechnology have opened up research opportunities in almost all areas of medical science.
Clinical researchers who are also doctors can administer drugs to patients in clinical trials, monitor their reactions, and observe the results. Those who are not doctors usually collaborate with a physician who deals directly with patients. In addition to developing treatments for health problems, medical scientists attempt to discover ways to prevent health problems, for example, by confirming the link between smoking and lung cancer or between alcoholism and liver disease.
Some medical researchers specialise in epidemiology and public health, which involves investigating the social and environmental determinants of disease, disability and other health problems, and developing methods of prevention and control. Epidemiologists study health and disease in different-sized populations – from small groups to many thousands of people. They may focus on infectious diseases that affect the entire body, such as tuberculosis, influenza, or HIV/AIDS, or on localised infections of the brain, lungs, digestive tract, etc. Others will investigate non-infectious diseases that are more closely related to lifestyle, environment and genetic makeup, such as diabetes and obesity, heart disease and cancer.
Where do medical researchers work?
In the UK medical researchers work in universities and teaching hospitals, in publicly funded or charity-funded research establishments, or in biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. Those working in universities and hospitals are typically funded by grants from the MRC or other funding organisations. These grants will have been awarded after the scientists’ proposals have been reviewed by independent experts and been found to have the potential to advance new scientific ideas leading to improvements in human health, and to be cost-effective.
Medical researchers who work in applied research or product development in industry use knowledge discovered through basic research to develop new drug treatments and other types of intervention. They tend to have less freedom than basic academic researchers to choose the focus of their research, being subject to the demands of their company’s commercial goals.
Scientists increasingly work as part of multidisciplinary teams, interacting with engineers, scientists of other disciplines, technicians, etc.
Typical entry-level requirements
As medical research is such a diverse field which offers many different types of career, it is not possible for us to provide definitive guidance on this site. However, as a rule of thumb, a first degree in a science subject is usually the minimum requirement for scientific support and technical roles. More specialised research careers require additional qualifications, such as a Masters or PhD degree and/or full clinical training qualification. The vacancies sections of the MRC units’ websites working in the scientific area you are interested in and other recruitment websites, will provide a good idea of typical entry requirements.