Clinical Perfusionist

Run the heart-lung machine during open heart surgery. While the heart is stopped, you are the circulation.

Typical pay: $160,532a year
Time to qualify: 5 to 7 yearsafter high school
Demand: Good
License needed: Dependsneeded in 18 states

Click through it

Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.

Where to study to become a clinical perfusionist in the United States

Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.

Every university, each on its own page

Compare where to study thisUS universities side by side for nursing Compare with other careersPay, time, cost, the path in and the pros and cons, side by side

Or jump to a part

Quick answers

How much does a clinical perfusionist make in the United States?

The median pay is about $160,532 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $135,031 at the lower end to about $179,531 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.

How long does it take to become a clinical perfusionist in the United States?

5 to 7 years after high school, on the usual route.

What does it cost to become a clinical perfusionist?

$70,000 to $102,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.

Do you need a license to work as a clinical perfusionist in the United States?

It depends where you work. You need a license, certificate or registration in Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.

What is the job outlook for a clinical perfusionist in the United States?

Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.

Or read the whole thing here

Clinical Perfusionist salary in the United States

What you earn and what it costs to get there.

What perfusionists make

Median, from Salary.com

$160,532

Bottom tenth

$135,031

Top tenth

$179,531

These come from Salary.com, a pay data company, rather than from the federal wage survey, which is unusual for this site and worth explaining. Perfusion is too small a field to get its own line in the government survey, so it is swept into a catch-all group called Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other, alongside jobs that need far less training. That group's 2025 median is $50,290, which is not what perfusionists earn, so using it here would be misleading. Salary.com puts the median for clinical perfusionists at $160,532 as of October 1, 2026, with the bottom tenth at $135,031 and the top tenth at $179,531.

Why the real number is higher

4,988 certified

Every Certified Clinical Perfusionist on the national board's roster at the end of 2024

There are only a small number of accredited training programs in the United States and they graduate small classes. When a cardiac program cannot find a perfusionist, surgery stops. That is the kind of scarcity that sets pay, and it is why you should check live hospital job postings in your state rather than a national average.

What it costs to get there

Bachelor's degree at a public university, in-state: About $9,800 a year in tuition and fees
Perfusion program, usually a master's degree: Two years of graduate tuition, often $30,000 to $60,000 in total
Board exams: Two exams from the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion, several hundred dollars each
Relocation: Real money. You will probably move for the program and again for the job

Roughly, all in

$70,000 to $102,000

Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel

The low end is a four year bachelor's degree at an in state public university at about $9,800 a year, then a two year perfusion program at the cheap end of $30,000 total, plus the two board exams at several hundred dollars each. The high end is the same bachelor's with a $60,000 perfusion program. Moving for the program and again for the job is real money that is not counted here, and graduate students count as independent for federal aid, so you can borrow for the perfusion years without a parent's income counting against you; some hospitals also repay loans in exchange for a service commitment.

File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Graduate students are independent for federal aid purposes, so you can borrow for the perfusion program without your parents' income counting against you. Many hospitals also repay loans in exchange for a service commitment.

Benefits

Hospital benefits
Health insurance, retirement match, paid leave, usually from the first month.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Most nonprofit hospitals qualify, which can cancel remaining federal student loans after 10 years of payments.
Paid continuing education
You must keep the certification current, and employers normally cover the courses.
Travel and locum work
Agencies place perfusionists in short-term hospital contracts.

How to become a clinical perfusionist in the United States

The exact path from high school to qualified.

The path to becoming a clinical perfusionist, step by step

A science degree first, then a small, competitive clinical program.

1
High school diploma
Grade 12
Biology, chemistry, physics and as much math as you can take.
2
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Biology, chemistry, biomedical science or nursing. Programs want anatomy, physiology, chemistry and statistics on your transcript.
3
Health care experience
1 to 2 years, often
Most successful applicants worked first as a respiratory therapist, nurse, surgical technologist or cardiovascular technologist. Shadow a perfusionist before you apply.
4
Accredited perfusion program
About 2 years
About two years, usually ending in a master's degree. Classroom first, then clinical rotations where you run real cases under supervision.
5
Board certification
During and after the program
Log the required minimum number of clinical cases, then pass the Perfusion Basic Science Examination and the Clinical Applications in Perfusion Examination to become a Certified Clinical Perfusionist.

High school courses that help you become a clinical perfusionist

Biology
Especially anatomy and physiology. The heart and lungs are the whole job.
Chemistry
Blood gases, electrolytes and drug effects are chemistry in real time.
Physics
Flow, pressure and pumps. You are running a fluid system.
Computer or technology classes
Modern circuits are full of monitors, alarms and data you have to read fast.

Time and money, at a glance

Years after high school: 5 to 7
Admission: Very competitive. Small classes, strong science GPA, health care experience expected
Total tuition: Roughly $70,000 to $100,000 across both degrees
Paid while training?: No. Clinical rotations are unpaid

Not a state license in most places, but you still cannot work without the certificate

18 states license perfusionists, according to the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion, among them Texas, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Everywhere else the gate is the same in practice: hospitals will not put you on a cardiac team unless you graduated from an accredited program and hold the Certified Clinical Perfusionist credential from the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion. Treat certification as compulsory, because every employer does.

Where people study

Small, scattered, and you apply to several.

Milwaukee School of Engineering
Wisconsin. Has trained perfusionists since 1983.
Programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs
The accreditor's directory is the only complete list, and it changes as programs open and close.
Hospital-based programs
Some run inside large academic medical centers rather than universities.

What helps you get ahead as a clinical perfusionist

Things you don't need, but that help.

Credentials that add to the job

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation specialist
Long-term heart and lung support in the intensive care unit, not just during surgery. A growing part of the work since 2020.
Blood management certifications
The American Society of Extracorporeal Technology certifies specialists in reducing how much donated blood a patient needs.
Ventricular assist device training
Implanted pumps for patients waiting on a transplant.
Pediatric perfusion
Infant cases with circuits a fraction of the adult size. Fewer centers, higher stakes.

Nice-to-haves

A hospital job while you study
Surgical technologist, patient care technician, monitor tech. It gets you into an operating room and onto an application.
Shadowing hours
Programs ask how many hours you have watched real cases. Start early, because access is slow to arrange.
Calm under pressure
Not a credential, but it is the trait every program interview is testing for.

What being a clinical perfusionist is really like

Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.

What a clinical perfusionist does day to day

In before 7am to build and prime the circuit for the first case. During surgery you stand at the machine for three to six hours managing blood flow, oxygen, temperature, drugs and clotting while the surgeon works on a stopped heart. You talk constantly with the surgeon and the anesthesia team. Between cases you clean down, restock and set up again. Some days are one long case, some are three. Then there are the nights you get called in.

The honest pros and cons of being a clinical perfusionist

The good

Small field, real scarcity, strong bargaining position
You are a named member of the surgical team, not a helper
Technical and physiological work that never gets boring
Hospital benefits and loan forgiveness at nonprofit employers

The hard parts

The patient's life is literally running through your machine
Early starts, long cases and on-call nights
Few programs, so admission is competitive and you may have to move
Small field also means few employers in any one city

Work life

Typical hours: Early starts, 40 to 50 a week plus on-call
Remote work: None
Physical demand: Moderate. Long hours standing, high concentration
Unionized: Sometimes, where the hospital's staff are

Similar paths

Things nobody tells you about being a clinical perfusionist

Things people don't tell you.

The first machine ran in 1953

John Gibbon used a heart-lung machine on a human for the first successful time in 1953 in Philadelphia. Every open heart operation since has depended on someone running one.

Two exams stand between you and the title

The American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion certifies perfusionists with the Perfusion Basic Science Examination and the Clinical Applications in Perfusion Examination. Pass both and you are a Certified Clinical Perfusionist.

You cool the patient down on purpose

Perfusionists routinely drop a patient's body temperature well below normal during surgery. Cold tissue needs less oxygen, which buys the surgical team time.

Most first-timers pass

In spring 2024, 93.3% of first-time takers passed the Perfusion Basic Science Examination, and 85% of all examinees did. The hard part is getting into a program, not the board exam.

How a clinical perfusionist compares

Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.

More health careers in the US

Diagnostics and lab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.

Where these numbers come from

Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.