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Research and the lab

Pharmacologist

Studies how drugs act on the body and how the body handles them, to find new medicines and make existing ones safer.

Pharmacologists work in drug companies, universities, contract research organisations and government agencies, mostly in labs and research teams. It suits careful, curious people who like both biology and chemistry and enjoy testing ideas with experiments.

Also called Research pharmacologist, Clinical pharmacologist or Drug discovery scientist.

At a glance

Way in
PhD, often in pharmacology, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacy and biomedical science
Pay in the US
$103,410 a year, the medianFor medical scientists, except epidemiologists, 2025
Pay in the UK
£27,000 starting to £55,000 with experience
US outlook
Much faster than average, 2025-2035
Suits you if
You want to know exactly how medicines work and enjoy careful lab experiments.

Pay is a guide: it moves with the country, the employer, the sector and the years in the job. Figures from O*NET OnLine (US) and the National Careers Service (UK); see the sources below.

The work

What does a pharmacologist do?

  • Test how candidate drugs affect cells, tissues and animal models in the lab.
  • Measure how drugs are absorbed, distributed, broken down and removed from the body.
  • Work out safe and effective doses and look for side effects.
  • Help design clinical trials and analyse the results.
  • Publish findings and share data with chemists, toxicologists and clinicians.

Where they work

  • Pharmaceutical companies
  • University research labs
  • Contract research organisations
  • Government and regulatory agencies

Skills

The skills a pharmacologist needs

  • Pharmacologyreceptors, dose response and drug metabolism
  • Lab techniquecell assays, tissue work and analytical methods
  • Data analysisstatistics for dose curves and trial results
  • Experimental designcontrols, replicates and fair tests
  • Scientific writingreports, papers and safety documents
  • Teamworkworking across chemistry, toxicology and clinical teams

Route in

How to become a pharmacologist

  1. Take chemistry and biology at school, plus maths if you can.
  2. Complete a degree in pharmacology or a related subject, ideally with a placement year in industry.
  3. Do a PhD for research posts; some industry lab roles take people with a good bachelor's or master's.
  4. Build experience in a postdoctoral or industry post, then specialise in an area such as drug safety.

Degrees people take

  • Pharmacology
  • Biochemistry
  • Physiology
  • Pharmacy
  • Biomedical science

Clinical pharmacologists who treat patients are doctors who specialise after medical school.

Practise for it

The quizzes and tools that fit

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Next to it

Careers to weigh against it

Sources

Where the facts come from

Written for biofideX from these public sources. The pay figures are theirs, copied as published, last read 2026-10-25.

Requirements differ by country and change over time; check with the body that registers the profession where you will work. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll correct it.

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