Rsearch And Development

                      

• Research & Development

There are actually different areas within research & development to consider that include drug discovery and preclinical research, clinical research, and process development.  

• Drug discovery and preclinical research jobs

 These are the typical “scientist” jobs for PhDs as they pertain to the initial screening of potential therapeutic compounds and testing the efficacy and safety of the compounds on  animals.  The specific job titles will vary from one company to another, but they will likely contain the word scientist in one form or another (e.g., principal scientist, senior scientist, or just plain old scientist.)

• Clinical research 

Clinical research done after the investigational new drug application & involve human trials.  The focus on human testing lends itself to an environment heavily populated by medical doctors, there are opportunities for PhDs.  As a clinical research scientist, graduate school training will come in very handy for responsibilities that include experimental design, data analysis, and composing final reports.

• Process development 

Scientists work in later stages of research and development and their efforts are mostly focused on optimizing the manufacturing process.  This optimization can involve developing new machinery that may be necessary for scale-up or streamlining protocols, so an engineering background may be helpful for some positions.