pre-med to pre-mph?

[hopefullypeachy]

Hi,

I am new to SDN and was reading all of the threads, what made you guys decide to go into public health? I am currently pre-med, and started researching the option as a back-up, but now I am considering getting my mph instead and I am very confused with my options career wise and how competitive it is to get into MPH programs. . Any advice, or where to get advice would help. Thanks!!

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[tara14]

Well you don't have to give up pre-med for pre-mph. You can do both. A lot of med schools now have joint MD(or DO)/MPH programs that you can do. An MPH is a lot of money so if you are unsure about getting an MPH I wouldn't get it if your true interest and ultimate career goals are medicine. I would just get into med school and do the joint program. Public health is a great field in which you can do pretty much anything from health care administration, health policy, health education, epi, stats, research...etc... the list goes on and on. You should talk to your advisor at school to get more info about public health - see if your school has any public health type of classes and take some to see if you like it. Also - go onto some of the public health schools websites and look around to learn more about the different fields that you can get your MPH in. As for competitiveness -that varies by school. Some schools you can't get a MPH without having a prior professional degree (such as Hopkins) but you can get a MHS or MHA. And other schools you can go to right out of college to get a MPH.

This website seems to have a lot of info that can answer some of your questions : http://whatispublichealth.org/

 

[fantasty]

I agree with tara14 that getting some background in public health through courses can be a good idea. I first learned about public health during high school when I went to a program that touched on a variety of health professions. While there, we talked about public health and also read some books by Berton Rouche (Medical Detectives, Eleven Blue Men, etc - books that were about odd cases where doctors and/or epidemiologists had to figure out what was going on).

Anyway - the point is that I tried to take every opportunity I could in college to take things related to public health. I took classes in demography, social welfare, health disparities, toxicology, environmental ethics, sociology of science, etc. Those classes were SO much more interesting to me that my pre-med classes (orgo, physics, etc) - and I still actually use this information (unlike sn2 reactions or whatever that was).

BTW - I'm doing a dual degree in medicine & epidemiology, so there are definitely opportunities to do both. You could also do them sequentially (though this is more expensive if you do MPH before MD). Some residencies (after med school) will pay you to get your MPH. The field of preventive medicine is one way to achieve this goal. Also, the CDC has EIS officers (which you'd be eligible for after you get an MD) that do some really cool public health work.

 

[bbas]

I agree with tara14 that getting some background in public health through courses can be a good idea. I first learned about public health during high school when I went to a program that touched on a variety of health professions. While there, we talked about public health and also read some books by Berton Rouche (Medical Detectives, Eleven Blue Men, etc - books that were about odd cases where doctors and/or epidemiologists had to figure out what was going on).

Anyway - the point is that I tried to take every opportunity I could in college to take things related to public health. I took classes in demography, social welfare, health disparities, toxicology, environmental ethics, sociology of science, etc. Those classes were SO much more interesting to me that my pre-med classes (orgo, physics, etc) - and I still actually use this information (unlike sn2 reactions or whatever that was).

BTW - I'm doing a dual degree in medicine & epidemiology, so there are definitely opportunities to do both. You could also do them sequentially (though this is more expensive if you do MPH before MD). Some residencies (after med school) will pay you to get your MPH. The field of preventive medicine is one way to achieve this goal. Also, the CDC has EIS officers (which you'd be eligible for after you get an MD) that do some really cool public health work.

Are PhD's in Epi eligible to be EIS officers, or is it just for MD's?

 

[fantasty]

PhD's are eligible. A recent grad from my school got a position with a PhD.