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Medical directors are physicians who take on leadership roles in hospitals and other health care-related facilities. The role of a medical director is multifaceted, with responsibilities spanning clinical and administrative tasks. On the clinical side, medical directors oversee the quality of care given at a facility and develop ways to evaluate and improve patient care. They also monitor the work of other doctors and assist with long-term care plans.

The administrative duties of medical directors often include human resources and staffing issues such as identifying and providing professional development opportunities for fellow physicians. At nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, medical directors are responsible for the overall quality and safety of the care provided, so they must implement systems to monitor care and manage risk.

Pharmaceutical companies also employ medical directors to direct research and manage clinical trials, while insurance companies turn to medical directors for consultation and long-term care strategies.

Medical director salaries

Because of the level of training and expertise required, many medical directors earn impressive salaries. According to Salary.com, the median annual salary of medical directors in the U.S. was $217,463 as of June 2011. The salary-reporting site GlassDoor.com shows a similar median with annual salaries ranging from $120,000 to $236,000. On both sites, medical director salaries were highest for positions within biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

While hospitals and long-term care facilities exist throughout the country, biotech companies are concentrated in a few large cities. According to Forbes magazine, the biotech industry is strongest in the following cities:

1. San Diego, Calif.
2. Boston, Mass.
3. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
4. San Jose, Calif.
5. Seattle, Wash.

Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles also have abundant biotech opportunities. Medical director salaries at biotech companies are high across the board, but the relatively low cost of living in North Carolina means that jobs in the Raleigh metropolitan area may offer the highest effective salary.

Medical directors working in hospitals and care facilities can find work in both big cities and rural areas. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that job prospects for physicians as a whole should be especially strong in rural areas between 2008 and 2018. According to the BLS, average annual salaries for physicians were highest in the following states in 2010:

1. Minnesota: $225,410
2. Nevada: $223,350
3. South Dakota: $222,780

Of these states, South Dakota has the lowest cost of living, followed by Minnesota. Whether medical directors choose to work for hospitals, care facilities or biotech companies, they can expect consistently high salaries.

Becoming a medical director

Medical directors generally begin their careers as physicians, so they are highly-trained medical experts with MD degrees and clinical experience. The American Medical Director Association offers certification to medical directors who hold an MD and have a significant amount of clinical and administrative experience.

The first step to becoming a medical director--earning an MD--requires a bachelor's degree followed by four years of medical school. The first two years of medical school consist of traditional classwork in anatomy, biology, biochemistry, physiology, pathology and lab-based courses. The final two years require clinical practice through rotations in a variety of medical specialties. Following graduation, doctors complete three to eight years of paid internships and residencies before they can practice on their own. Those who aspire to become medical directors should demonstrate leadership skills and excel in their medical field.