Hi Iridium!
Welcome (or welcome back) to SDN!
I saw that you BUMPed (Bring up my post), but in this forum you'll need to definitely give folks a few days to respond (normally your post won't get buried b/c this forum never has so many threads that we move to a second or third page). I'll try to answer a few of your questions... I started to answer your post yesterday, but then my computer erased my reply - gotta love technology.
I guess that the answer to this question depends on what you want to do. If you're looking to do straight epidemiological/biostatistical research, then I would definitely suggest doing a PhD. If you want to apply this kind of research in some sort of programmatic setting (e.g., not-for-profit program, research group, etc.), you might think about doing the more practice-oriented doctoral degree (DrPH). With either degree, your ultimate fate may be as an academic at a university or medical center, but this is not written in stone. There are many opportunities for doctoral doctors, and you can look at some of the job types on the Public Health Employment Connection (
http://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/phec.cfm) and the resources in the sticky in this forum.
If you for any reason think that you want to practice medicine or work in a clinical environment, then maybe getting an MD combined degree would be a good option for you (but not an absolute necessity if you're only doing research). However, you may not be limited to the MD/MPH or MD/PhD degrees. For example, the University of Pittsburgh has a collaborative combined degree through their Schools of Health Sciences that gives you a MD/MSc in five years. The Clinical Scientist Training Program trains you to do, well, clinical research. They have specialty tracks, including one in Epidemiology, which different aspects of population-based research (biostats, hypothesis generation, etc.). If you are interested in clinical research in particular, this may be a great program for you (check it out at
http://www.pitt.edu/~cstp).
While there are many opportunities for MDs, you should have sort of idea of whether the degree is right for you. As you are aware, the MD involves a major time and financial investment, and it might be a waste to simply get an MD and MPH when you can get a PhD in public health if that is truly what you want to practice. If you want to do some sort of medical epidemiology, there are many opportunities to work at the government level as well (See past thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=116238&highlight=public+health+jobs+physicians).
Lifestyle factors of course depend on the kind of job and degree. As an doctoral or MD researcher, you may the option of working a 9-5, but research is one of those unpredictable things that can have you in the office at odd hours. However, clinical practice may offer the same thing depending on a number of factors, including your specialty.
As you can see, there are many options. I would encourage you to carefully explore each one and make a decision that's best for you.
Best,
H&T
