The Salary of a Lab Pathologist

Pathologists study all aspects of disease.

Pathologists study diseases in plants, animals and humans. They find the causes and study the progression of diseases. Pathologists are usually doctors with additional training in pathology. They work in universities, laboratories, hospitals, in agriculture, public health and in many other industries and settings. They often supervise medical technicians and technologists who may perform some basic tests on lab specimens. They may also teach.

Employers

Pathologists work in many different fields, including medicine development, agriculture and law enforcement. They help determine the causes and the best courses of treatment for diseases. Some may study the crossover of diseases from animals to humans.

Humans

Lab pathologists who study human diseases typically have a medical doctor degree and a degree in pathology. They may work in law enforcement, helping to determine causes of death, or assisting surgeons in determining the proper course a surgery should take by examining tissue from a patient in surgery. The average salary of a medical scientist was $86,710 per year as of May 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Animals

Those who study animal pathology may be veterinarians or zoologists. They have doctoral degrees in their fields and training in pathology. The average annual salary of a zoologist, according to the BLS as of May 2010, was $61,660. Veterinarians earned an average annual salary of $92,570 per year.

Plants

Phytopathology is plant pathology, and scientists who study this particular field are botanists. They have Ph.D. degrees and training in plant pathology. Plant pathology salaries can vary significantly, depending on experience level, location and other factors. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that botanists working for the federal government as of March 2009 earned $72,792 per year. A half-time Ph.D. assistantship in phytopathology, open at the time of publication, paid a monthly stipend of $1,517, health insurance and a tuition waiver to the University of Washington. (See Reference 6.)

References

• StateUniversity.com; Pathologist Job Description; 2011
• Bureau of Labor Statistics; Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists; May 2011
• Bureau of Labor Statistics; Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists; May 2011
• Bureau of Labor Statistics; Veterinarians; May 2011
• Bureau of Labor Statistics; Biological Scientists; December 2009
• American Phytopathological Society; PhD Assistantship in Plant Pathology; 2011