In DC, you¹ll meet decisionmakers in healthcare in many a bar in Georgetown. Decisions made here affect both national and global health. From policy wonks to insurance lobbyists, DC is home base for political power brokers . They hand out the money – at the National Institute of Health,, the National Cancer Institute and National Science Foundaiton ¬ and regulate and enforce health legistlation ¬ at the Food and Drug Administration, for example. If you¹re interested in healthcare lobbying, – for for profit or nonprofits – there¹s no other place to be, really. And even if policy if not your thing, in DC, you¹ll have a ringside seat on the coming healthcare reform show.

On the medical front, top-ranked Johns Hopkins only an hour away in nearby Baltimore, is the #1 rated Best Hospital in the country and one of the leading centers for medical research.

DC is also a heady place to be for genetic research., Craig Venter, who beat the government¹s Human Genome Project to publish the first human genome sequence, in 2000 by starting his own company Celera (in Bethesda) recently also became the first to publish, in 2007, a complete (six-billion-letter) genome ¬ his own. Could this be the perfect statement to sum up this city of the powerful who live life a little bit larger than the rest of us?

Fortunately, they have the money, the talent and the ability to pull off many a miracle, when it comes to healthcare.

Medical Assistants
- Mean Annual Salary: $30,940
- Number Employed: 5,680

Medical and Health Services Managers
- Mean Annual Salary: $87,340
- Number Employed: 5,010

Biggest Employers
- Washington Hospital Center
- MedStar Health System
- Inova Health System
- Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc.
- Chindex International, Inc.
- Dialysis Corp. of America
- Sunrise Senior Living, Inc.

Other Employers of Note
– PRA International
- Martek Biosciences Corp.
- United Therapeutics Corp.
- Digene Corp
- Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.
- Celera Genomic Corp.
- Human Genome Sciences, Inc.

Next: Atlanta