Educational Aspects, Career Opportunities and Job Descriptions as a Pharmacologist

Pharmacologists study, develop and test drugs and other medicines with the intention of treating and preventing diseases. Apart from these aspects, they study other factors of diseases which can be substances like dusts, gases, food colorings etc for their effects. Talking about job descriptions, they perform a variety of experiments on laboratory animals, like guinea pigs and monkeys mostly. A major part of the career of an average pharmacologist involves laboratory related research work.

Education Based Aspects

People who have completed bachelor’s degrees or equivalent courses in sciences can take up pharmacology courses. Bachelors in mathematics can also apply though. The study is divided into 2 main aspects: laboratory research and studying theoretical aspects. To practice clinical pharmacology (conducting tests on human beings), pharmacologists should have doctoral degrees in the field of pharmacology.

Employment Options

Decent employment opportunities are offered to pharmacologists by many drug companies and medical hospitals. Universities and government agencies also offer attractive remunerations. Colleges and universities have placement cells which offer assistance towards employment prospects, but it is advised to keep yourself updated with the latest job aspects at least during the last year of university. Though the employment outlook has been good till now, it is changing for the better, post 2010.

Salary Aspects

With a decent employment outlook and scope of further studies, pharmacologists earn around 100,000 $ per annum and even more with specializations and better working experience. Salary aspects also depend on the location of employment; bigger metropolitans offer best earning prospects.

Specializations and Career Growth

A pharmacologist has the opportunity to specialize in the following subjects/fields of study:

Clinical pharmacology (testing of drugs on human beings)
Neuropharmacology (analyzing drugs based effects on the nervous system)
Chemotherapy (study and developing of drugs which are capable of destroying cancer cells, germs and viruses without affecting the healthy cells)
Toxicologists (study of poisonous drugs, chemicals and even air pollutants for their harmful effects)
Once the specialization in these fields is done, pharmacologists move on to become experts in these fields. Pharmacologists in the teaching and research fields move to become heads of departments and research teams.