Funded Social Science MD/PhD programs

[HSS Hopeful]

Hi all. I just created my account, but I have browsed the forums for some time, and I have usually gotten helpful advice from it. I was hoping that one of you might be able to answer my question:

I'm a senior at a reasonably competitive and well-ranked (by USNWR, so take it with a large grain of salt) undergrad, with ~3.75 GPA (both science and cumulative) and a 35 MCAT. I have taken all my prereqs, and I was planning to apply for MSTP, MD/PhD and MD programs in the upcoming cycle. I have done two summers of basic science research (back when I still thought I might be a bio major) and two summers of research in a stats lab at a local medical school.

Unlike most MD/PhD hopefuls (I think), I majored in economics, taking a number of advanced math courses along the way. I am really interested in doing research in either epidemiology or health economics (hopefully the latter). I believe that most fully funded MD/PhD programs (including most/all MSTP programs?) are mainly for people interested in doing biomedical research. Is there a comprehensive list of fully funded (I really don't fancy taking out loans for 8 years and trying to pay them back on an academic's salary in my mid-30s) MD/PhD programs out there somewhere?

Thanks for all your help!

Edit: I just wanted to say that I am aware of Yale and UCSD's programs, as far as fully funded ones go. If those two don't pan out, I would be totally happy doing any regular MD or DO program. I just hoped that there would be others.

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[tortuga87]

Hi all. I just created my account, but I have browsed the forums for some time, and I have usually gotten helpful advice from it. I was hoping that one of you might be able to answer my question:

I'm a senior at a reasonably competitive and well-ranked (by USNWR, so take it with a large grain of salt) undergrad, with ~3.75 GPA (both science and cumulative) and a 35 MCAT. I have taken all my prereqs, and I was planning to apply for MSTP, MD/PhD and MD programs in the upcoming cycle. I have done two summers of basic science research (back when I still thought I might be a bio major) and two summers of research in a stats lab at a local medical school.

Unlike most MD/PhD hopefuls (I think), I majored in economics, taking a number of advanced math courses along the way. I am really interested in doing research in either epidemiology or health economics (hopefully the latter). I believe that most fully funded MD/PhD programs (including most/all MSTP programs?) are mainly for people interested in doing biomedical research. Is there a comprehensive list of fully funded (I really don't fancy taking out loans for 8 years and trying to pay them back on an academic's salary in my mid-30s) MD/PhD programs out there somewhere?

Thanks for all your help!

Edit: I just wanted to say that I am aware of Yale and UCSD's programs, as far as fully funded ones go. If those two don't pan out, I would be totally happy doing any regular MD or DO program. I just hoped that there would be others.

Have you considered bioinformatics? If so, it opens more doors

 

[mrsanator]

Welcome to the board.

I'm a 4th year (2 yr MD, 2 yr PhD) MD/PhD student doing Health Policy and Management at UNC; most of my research is econometrics applied to policy and clinical questions.

Research PhD programs in economics, health policy and epidemiology generally cover US citizen students, so by "full funding" I think what you mean is the MD stipend/tuition. To the best of my knowledge, there is no comprehensive list of MD/PhD programs that meet your criteria, but it will only take a couple hours of work to identify the right places for you:

1. Figure out where you want to live.
2. In those areas, identify schools with MD/PhD programs that provide MD funding (remember that there are several schools without MSTP grants that provide MD funding for MD/PhDs).
3. Of those medical schools, figure out which ones also have good Health Policy / Economics / Epidemiology departments.
4. Email those schools program administrators and ask if they'd consider admitting/funding you for the departments you've identified.

Off the top of my head, some places to consider are UNC, Penn, JHU, Chicago (which I think has a specially-designated MD/PhD program in social sciences), Harvard, Dartmouth, and Michigan. I'm sure you'll find others if you ask around broadly (just because they don't explicitly list a department on their website doesn't mean an MD/PhD program won't consider a student going into it).

While Bioinformatics is also a great field, in my admittedly limited experience social science MD/PhD training opens plenty of doors, particularly economics/applied 'metrics and epidemiology.

Message me if you want to discuss further.

 

[BarmyArmy]

There are some econ/health policy folks at Pittsburgh as well

 

[loveoforganic]

I think emory and penn.

 

[Lil Mick]

Here are all of the programs of which I know (and applied) that allow research in epi/math/other:
1) Yale
2) Harvard (molecular biology with MIT)
3) U Chicago
4) Columbia
5) Emory
6) U Miami
7) U Florida
8) U Alabama
9) MUSC
10) UIC
11) U Minnesota
12) U Pitt
13) U Penn
14) UC-Irvine
15) UCSF
16) U Kentucky
17) Yeshiva
18) U Rochester
19) Stanford
20) Johns Hopkins

If you're in NC, also check with your state schools, as NC State has some really sweet opportunities in biomathematics (sort of like epi and eco).