Career Explorer Healthcare (clinical)
Grows with AI
Physicians, pathologists
Diagnose diseases and conduct lab tests using organs, body tissues, and fluids. Includes medical examiners.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 41% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +4.8% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and creative vision.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $312,400
- Job growth to 2035
- +4.8%
- Openings a year
- 300
- People doing it (2025)
- 11,800
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree, then an internship or residency
Where people already use AI for this work
- Analyze health or medical data
- Analyze biological or chemical substances or related data
- Research biological or ecological phenomena
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Confer with healthcare or other professionals about patient care
- Diagnose health conditions or disorders
- Operate laboratory or field equipment
What the work looks like
- Examine microscopic samples to identify diseases or other abnormalities.
- Diagnose diseases or study medical conditions, using techniques such as gross pathology, histology, cytology, cytopathology, clinical chemistry, immunology, flow cytometry, or molecular biology.
- Write pathology reports summarizing analyses, results, and conclusions.
- Communicate pathologic findings to surgeons or other physicians.
- Identify the etiology, pathogenesis, morphological change, and clinical significance of diseases.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- PodiatristsHuman edge, steady, Index 44, +2.0%
- VeterinariansGrows with AI, Index 67, +9.4%
- Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatricHuman edge, growing, Index 72, +4.0%
- Athletic trainersGrows with AI, Index 81, +12.7%
Also known as: Anatomic Pathologist, Dermatopathologist, Forensic Pathologist, Pathologist, Cytopathologist, Hematopathologist, Neuropathologist, Oral Pathologist.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.