Confused about MPH vs MD/PhD in Infectious Disease

[Beckie]

Do I get my MPH, followed by a PhD in Epidemiology, or do I go to Med School to get an MD/PhD in Infectious Disease?

I'm assuming that going the MD/PhD route would end up giving me a higher income, but would I be doing the same kind of work?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[schrizto]

MD/PhD is usually for bench research. I'd imagine the focus of an MD/MPH isn't really research but I'm not that familiar with the MPH degree.

So what I'm getting from your question is you are looking to get three degrees, MD, PhD, and MPH, right? The order wouldn't matter if you're talking about it affecting eventual jobs you could do. Doing an MD/PhD program first and then tacking on an MPH would probably be more financially sound because of the stipend.

Or are you talking about MPH/PhD vs MD/PhD?

 

[LizzyM]

Major difference is that physicians are licensed to examine, diagnose and prescribe treatment, PhD epidemiologists are not.

Infectious disease epidemiologists work in government and in academic settings. In government, you are salaried, in academic settings you're often on soft money meaning that you have to write grants, get funded, do the work, publish, and write more grants. Older investigators will do more writing as well as mentoring and supervision of younger associates. Teaching is often required in academic settings.

Patient care generally pays better than government or academic jobs in public health.

Either PhD or MD can qualify you for the Epidemiologic Intelligence Service which is pretty cool

http://www.cdc.gov/eis/More.html

 

[Beckie]

Thank you for your replies.

I'm still confused though. It seems like the easier way out is to avoid med school.

I'm really interested in epidemiology but I'm afraid that the money isn't going to be that great.

I'm applying for the MPH program with a concentration in biostats and epidemiology at the local university where I live. I think it would be so much fun and so interesting, but I don't know if I'm wasting my time. They also offer a PhD program after finishing the MPH program. If I could finish the PhD program and then make a reasonable income... I think that would be "easier" than going to med school.

But I'm not sure if the MD route would get me a more interesting job. My goal at the end of this is to be able to help people on a global scale through research.

Thank you. 🙂

 

[EMS5]

If research is how you want to do you part in the world, the PhD would be the way to go. Whether or not you want to examine/treat/prescribe/care for patients will determine whether or not you go for the MD/PhD

 

[FlowLimited]

MPH or MD? Ask yourself this question:

Do I want to wrestle sharks or stand behind the glass taking pictures? 😀

 

[Beckie]

Thank you for your advice. I definitely like the research side more.