Career in public health/medicine

[amot]

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For a long time, I have been on the track to be a doctor. And like most undergrads that are pre-med, it's my sophomore year and I don't know if I still want to go through all of that and I'm doubting the idea of going to med school. I am still really interested in the health profession and I'm still on the pre-med track until I figure out what I want to do.

I am also interested in the idea of public health. I know public health is a really broad subject with many branches for possible careers. I was wondering if people had ideas on how medicine and public health can work together as a possible career. I know there are options like MPH/MD, but I still don't know if all of that time/money/effort is worth it. I've really been struggling in seeing my future career or at least a path to go on. Any advice, opinions, or experiences would be much appreciated.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

This is one situation where I think shadowing could actually be useful. Find a preventive medicine physician or a public entity that will allow you to shadow to get a better sense of the options. Here's some links:

http://www.usphs.gov/

https://www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/cim/specialties/63670/cim_pub_preventivemed.html

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/preventive-medicine/

http://www.cdc.gov/employment/menu_topjobs.html

 

[Guero]

For a long time, I have been on the track to be a doctor. And like most undergrads that are pre-med, it's my sophomore year and I don't know if I still want to go through all of that and I'm doubting the idea of going to med school. I am still really interested in the health profession and I'm still on the pre-med track until I figure out what I want to do.

I am also interested in the idea of public health. I know public health is a really broad subject with many branches for possible careers. I was wondering if people had ideas on how medicine and public health can work together as a possible career. I know there are options like MPH/MD, but I still don't know if all of that time/money/effort is worth it. I've really been struggling in seeing my future career or at least a path to go on. Any advice, opinions, or experiences would be much appreciated.

Search MD/MPH topics both here and on other sites floating among the intergoogles. There have been plenty; but here are two:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=134791
http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/About/Committees/CEH/MDMPHGUIDE.aspx

EDIT: Bah, Mt K beat me to it. 🙂

 

[pineapplepancakes]

For a long time, I have been on the track to be a doctor. And like most undergrads that are pre-med, it's my sophomore year and I don't know if I still want to go through all of that and I'm doubting the idea of going to med school. I am still really interested in the health profession and I'm still on the pre-med track until I figure out what I want to do.

I am also interested in the idea of public health. I know public health is a really broad subject with many branches for possible careers. I was wondering if people had ideas on how medicine and public health can work together as a possible career. I know there are options like MPH/MD, but I still don't know if all of that time/money/effort is worth it. I've really been struggling in seeing my future career or at least a path to go on. Any advice, opinions, or experiences would be much appreciated.

Hi Amot! I've been looking into the intersection of public health and medicine for a while now, as well. One suggestion I have in addition to the links posted above are checking out some books about public health careers and public health in general. One book I found pretty helpful was 101 Careers in Public Health by Beth Seltzer. It talks about all sorts of ways that you can work in public health, whether with an MD, an MPH, or other qualifications. Other books that might give you a look into specific public health fields include:

• And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts
• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman

 

[brazenredhead]

I'm completing an MPH program and am matriculating to an MD program next fall. For me, the MPH program solidified my decision to go into medicine. I found out that I really am interested in prevention and infectious disease; even though an MPH or MPH/Ph.D in Epidemiology would allow me to pursue my research interests, I missed the clinical contact. I'm excited to be the "link" between theoretical and applied preventative care. That's not to say that I wouldn't have patient contact if I was to forgo the MD; I just want to see patients every day.

The money in public health varies with just an MPH; the more math/science oriented your concentration is, the more solid your job options. (The starting salary range for our class is 35-70k; the lower end is with people who focused on community outreach, the higher biostatistics and epidemiology.)

Another option is to do an MPH with a PA/RN/NP-- that tends to open up a few more doors on the clinical side of things, while cutting down (slightly) on the time/money commitment. Some MPH programs offer scholarship money, but since it's a professional degree, most aren't funded. If you went on to a Ph.D, however, many are.

My best advice? Don't just explore public health, explore medicine and research. Find out if you need to see patients to thrive. Taking a gap year or 2 for an MPH isn't the worst idea in the world. The way I saw it-- if I got through and still wanted to be a doctor, I could be. If not, I had a practical degree in a field I loved, with plenty of career prospects.