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.
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.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
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 Health Teacher, First Aid Teacher, and Clinical Instructor.
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