Who makes more money? A cardiac surgeon or a human geneticist?

Well, it depends. Cardiac surgeons can easily make high 6 or low 7 figures whereas a geneticist at a private corporation may earn one third that amount if they are a project or team leader or about $150K as a full professor if they teach and conduct research at major university. However, if the geneticist was able to identify the gene and switch for something like alopecia (male hair loss) or to correct diabetes or alzheimer's or any number of other common human conditions, and their contract gave them part ownership of the discovery, they would probably make 10 million in the first year. Think about it.