The senior clinical faculty member who has reached full professor rank in a health sciences school — teaching, supervising clinical training, mentoring junior faculty, and often continuing to practice. The role lives at the senior end of academic medicine or allied health.
Clinical Full Professor pay typically runs $74K–$176K at this level, and jobs in this field are projected to grow 17% through 2034.
Most days tend to involve a blend of teaching, clinical supervision, mentoring, and continued clinical practice — leading advanced courses, supervising residents or fellows, mentoring junior faculty through career stages, and often still seeing patients. You'll often spend part of the time on academic citizenship — committee work, leadership in professional societies, or curriculum redesign.
The harder part is often operating as a senior voice in academic medicine where consensus is slow and the politics of departments are real. You'll typically balance personal scholarship and clinical work with the institutional citizenship that full professor rank tends to expect.
People who tend to thrive here are clinically respected, scholarly, and willing to invest in the long arc of academic mentorship. The trade-off is the academic culture and pace and the cumulative work of building junior faculty alongside your own contributions. If you find satisfaction in shaping a discipline through both your patients and your students, the role can be a defining destination in academic clinical work.
Turn your career record
into a springboard for growth.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Don't know if you want to stay in your job?
Get your career on record. Then decide.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
The senior clinical faculty member who has reached full professor rank in a health sciences school — teaching, supervising clinical training, mentoring junior faculty, and often continuing to practice. The role lives at the senior end of academic medicine or allied health.
Median pay for a Clinical Full Professor is about $106K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $52K to $208K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Instructing, Reading Comprehension, Learning Strategies, and Active Learning.
Most people in this role hold a master's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 17.3% through 2034, with roughly 229,720 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Anatomy Teacher, Inhalation Therapy Teacher, and Optometry Teacher.
Do one small thing to grow in your career this week. Pick one of these; each comes with the words to use.
More career advice
We believe careers grow through small steps taken often, more than big leaps. So we’ve collected hundreds of them for you to try.
Browse career adviceYour job belongs to your employer.
Your career belongs to you.