What would be the salary of a virologist at a biosafety level 4 lab be?

Question

This is my life goal and I was wondering what I should study, what kinds of scientists I would work with, and what my chances are, salary info would be good too.

Answer 1

Well I did the research for you!

Since virology is a branch of biology (dealing with viruses and such) you will most likely need an undergraduate degree in biology. Which means, if you're in highschool, you will need grade 12 University level Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Biology and chemistry are the ones you need for sure, physics can be left out but you will still need to take it during your first year biology (I'm doing a biology major atm also). But then again, it depends on the school you're going to, so make sure you check the prerequisites for the biology degree. It would be even more beneficial for you, to take many microbiology classes or even major in microbiology (this field deals with diseases and viruses and pathogens, etc).  Then you have to pick whether you want to deal with plants, animals, humans, etc. There are many different viruses and the ones you want to deal with, you need to find out who they affect. But you can figure this out as you go along in university.

This is an example of the tasks they preform on a daily basis:

o to study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of viruses

o to isolate and make cultures of significant viruses

o to identify viruses by microscopic or electron microscopic exam

o to observe and monitor action of viruses on living or non-living organic materials

o to perform chemical analyses of substances produced by viruses and study their effects on organic matter.

Virologists are employed by hospitals, medical schools, medical research companies, pharmaceutical companies, governmental agencies, laboratory testing companies, or cancer treatment or research companies depending upon the specialization.

If you have good enough grades, understand what you're doing in university, and can get into some virology programs (AFTER you have graduated with an undergraduate degree), finding a job should be no problem, in fact, they're always hiring due to the appearances of new viruses each day.

The salary will depend on where you work, and how long you've been employed. Naturally, you will start at the bottom and work your way to the top! Unless you have done a LOT of school and are overly-qualified, then they will be forced to pay you more.

The average salary that I've found for a virologist is 53,000$ per year. I have read that it can range anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000$ though.

Just an added piece of information, virology is basically a medical branch! So you can expect quite a bit of schooling.

But good luck! This seems like a very interesting job! I'm actually studying to become an infectuous diseases specialist =D