Who exactly discovers new medicine for disease?

pharmacists, doctors, or.?
Answers:
Research scientists. A lot of basic research that will ultimately contribute to medical advances occurs at universities, but most research that's directly aimed at a distinct medical application (ex. "find a new compound to treat x") is carried out at pharmaceutical companies and, to some extent, hospitals (and in rare cases, specialized research institutions aimed at researching a particular disease).Most research facilities are organized into labs consist of a primary investigator (PI) who oversees the lab, and several graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The PI is someone who typically has a PhD, although some PIs have MDs instead (and few have both an MD and a PhD), and has typically completed one or more postdoctoral fellowship. At a university, this person would be a professor. The PI knows about all the research going on in her lab, and helps the grad students and postdocs, but typically does very little bench research (i.e. hands on, in the lab type of stuff). It's her responsibility to secure grants to fund research, oversee publications, and otherwise ensure the lab is productive. In a university setting, she would probably also teach classes.Most of the actual bench research is carried out by grad students and postdocs. Grad students are people who have finished college, and are working on their PhD. They take a few classes their first year or two (in the US - in the UK they just do research), but most of their time is spent in the lab, working on completing their thesis, and otherwise producing publishable results. Postdocs are people who have finished their PhD work (or in some cases, medical school), but don't have the skills or resum茅 to run their own lab yet. Like grad students, they work in the lab and try to produce results that can be published. (When I talk about results being published, that basically means making a scientifically sound discovery of some sort). In a university lab, you'd probably find both grad students and postdocs. In an industrial setting (i.e. a pharmaceutical or biotech company), you probably won't find any grad students as companies can't grant PhDs.Most labs also have at least one lab tech, and possibly some random undergrads. A lab tech is someone who has finished college, but hasn't started grad school yet. Many people will work as a lab tech for a year or two after college if they aren't yet in a position to apply to grad school, or just want to try out another area of research than they want to pursue in grad school. A lab tech is kind of like a grad student who's not working towards a PhD. And finally, undergrads are just college students who are working in the lab for some about of time. Depending on the lab, undergrads might get to work with a grad student or postdoc and learn laboratory techniques, or we might just get to wash dishes and such. There might also be the occasional random high school kid who does more or less the same things as an undergrad but (obviously) is still in high school.All of the people listed above contribute to the research that goes on, and all could potentially be listed as coauthors on a paper, which in the science world basically means getting credit for having helped discover something.

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Scientist

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Typically, Pharmacists work in pharmacies and do not do research. Biochemists and Medical Research Scientists do the research that leads to new drugs and treatments. Most of these individuals have a PhD.

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scientists at pharmaceutical and biotech companies

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merck, which is a company that has been around for years has a special team of people who work for cures on diseases. they also help people get the medicine that they need if they cant afford it.

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