Epidemiology/Population Health MSTP or MD/PHD

[epihealth]

Hello,

I am new to student doctor but have read most of the posts in the Physician Scientist section.

I was wondering if students who are currently in a MSTP or MD/PhD program in epidemiology or other population-health/public health related field could comment on a few things. This forum tends to be dominated by basic science researchers but I wanted to start a discussion thread on those of us interested in population health.

Could you comment on:
- the length of the phd portion of your program
- nature of your coursework and how many years it took to complete
- general nature of your dissertation research
- potential for international travel and research for your dissertation
- other funding sources used to supplement your MSTP stipend

Also I would really like to know what relevant background experiences, coursework, and knowledge you had before starting your PhD that you think are necessary.

Thanks so much!!

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[maduram]

No problem. I'm a MD/PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and did my PhD in epidemiology. I'm at the tail end of the MD/PhD program (will be matching next year), so I can comment on both the MD and PhD training modalities.

Just to start out, you won't believe how valuable the PhD in epidemiology will be for your clinical studies -- it will definitely help in M1 and M2 in your required med school stats and epi courses, and it will help in M3 and M4 when you're discussing diagnostic tests or research papers with your attending. And your skills in SAS / STATA will definately help if you find a clinical research topic that interests you.

As for your questions:

- the length of the phd portion of your program

I was able to formally complete the PhD in 3 years, but I was able to dovetail the PhD with the MD and take course in both fields at the same time. I'll be finishing the MD/PhD in a total of 6 years

- nature of your coursework and how many years it took to complete

PhD coursework will take about 2 years to complete, if you overload. Here's a list of most of the courses I did:

CHLH 429 Research Techniques
CHLH 474 Principles of Epidemiology
CHLH 510 Public Health Dev
CHLH 527 Statistics in Epidemiology
CHLH 590 Biostatistics
CHLH 550 Health Policy: United States
CHLH 571 Epidemiology and the Media
CHLH 578 Applied Epidemiology
STAT 428 Statistical Computing
STAT 430 Topics in Applied Statistics
ANSC 593 Res Studies in Animal Sciences
STAT 400 Statistics and Probability I
CHLH 461 Environmental Toxicology
SOC 488 Demographic Methods
SOC 581 Survey Research Methods I
CHLH 593 Special Projects
EPSY 585 Theories of Measurement,
SOC 582 Survey Research Methods II
SOC 586 Adv Social Statistics I
STAT 458 Math Modeling in Life Sciences

- general nature of your dissertation research

Without being too specific, my research centered on forecasting trends in cancer prevalence

- potential for international travel and research for your dissertation

I didn't do a lot of travel during the PhD (besides going for conferences). During the MD, one definately has the chance to travel -- I'll be doing away rotations at Stanford University, as well as an international away in Africa.

- other funding sources used to supplement your MSTP stipend

If you have a good advisor, money isn't really an issue. I did some tutoring at the Princeton Review on the side, but this was more for fun rather than money.

- Also I would really like to know what relevant background experiences, coursework, and knowledge you had before starting your PhD that you think are necessary.

For the PhD, it's good to have a decent background in computer programming -- you'll need to be very familiar with certain computer applications (SAS / STATA / SPSS) when you're doing your dissertation. A good knowledge of programming can drastically reduce the time you spend in your PhD.

 

[epihealth]

thanks maduram!

i know there are more people out there... please PM me if you do not feel like putting your info out there.

even if you don't feel like answering the questions please respond here or PM me letting me know that you are out there.