Skills
Medical Scientist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in medical scientists, and how to build and show them.
What skills do medical scientists need?
Medical Scientists need technical skills such as research design, lab techniques, and clinical trial design, plus people skills like persistence and leadership. They also use tools such as Lab equipment and Statistical software.
Technical (hard) skills
- Research design
- Lab techniques
- Clinical trial design
- Biostatistics
- Grant writing
- Scientific writing
People (soft) skills
- Persistence
- Leadership
- Communication
- Integrity
Tools, equipment and technology
- Lab equipment
- Statistical software
- REDCap
- Imaging systems
- ELNs
- Reference managers
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how medical scientists put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Research design” and “Lab techniques.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “persistence,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Ph.D. or M.D. near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our medical scientist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Medical Scientist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.