MD/MPP or MD/MPH

[numbersloth]

Hi all! I'm wondering if any of you are pursuing a dual degree with an interest in health policy? How feasible is it to be both active as physician in the clinic and pursue health policy in my career? I am especially interested in policy affecting children (in parallel with my interest in pediatrics) and policy affecting family and primary care physicians. Any advice or anecdotes to share?

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[Pacna]

The peds interest is somewhat unique, though definitely not unheard of. Someone can chime in if I'm wrong, but I have a bud who's pursuing EM + public health, and he had this question. He arrived at the conclusion that there was no real benefit to him to pursue an MD/MPH versus doing the MPH after EM. Though I know he has a master's in something else already, so there's some confounding variables...

Point being: Waiting until after medical training is apparently a perfectly viable option in parallel fields. So consider that avenue, as well.

 

[rpurplel]

I'm doing a dual degree MD/MPH with my MPH concentration in Health Policy and Management, with more focus on the health policy side of things.

I chose to do it now because it made more sense to me financially and just in terms of getting all my classroom studies out of the way now. I knew I wouldn't want to go back to school once I'm a practicing physician. But that's more a personal choice, you could do it either way. Some make the argument that you should do your mph studies closer to when you would actually use them.

There are tons of ways physicians can get involved in health policy while still being an active physician. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about my experiences.


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[MedAspirations]

I'm doing a dual degree MD/MPH with my MPH concentration in Health Policy and Management, with more focus on the health policy side of things.

I chose to do it now because it made more sense to me financially and just in terms of getting all my classroom studies out of the way now. I knew I wouldn't want to go back to school once I'm a practicing physician. But that's more a personal choice, you could do it either way. Some make the argument that you should do your mph studies closer to when you would actually use them.

There are tons of ways physicians can get involved in health policy while still being an active physician. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about my experiences.


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I realize not all medical schools have an MPP program, so did you decide to pursue an MPH over the possibility of choosing an MPP or was there only the option to pursue an MPH? If you did have the option would you have pursued an MPP? It seems to me you can take Health policy classes while pursuing an MPH or take minority or other specific public health courses while pursuing an MPP, would you agree? In which case if you are interested in public health issues as well as policy skills you can choose either an MPH or MPP and select your courses wisely, would you agree? I'm struggling on whether to pursue an MPP over an MPH and would really like your input.

 

[takeurmeds02]

I realize not all medical schools have an MPP program, so did you decide to pursue an MPH over the possibility of choosing an MPP or was there only the option to pursue an MPH? If you did have the option would you have pursued an MPP? It seems to me you can take Health policy classes while pursuing an MPH or take minority or other specific public health courses while pursuing an MPP, would you agree? In which case if you are interested in public health issues as well as policy skills you can choose either an MPH or MPP and select your courses wisely, would you agree? I'm struggling on whether to pursue an MPP over an MPH and would really like your input.

Not impossible but, you'd be hard-pressed to find a combined degree program for this specific route as opposed to the more general dual programs (md-mph/phd/jd/mba).

With that said, it may work best for you to wait until after you've finished MD. As an example, my program is only four years so there are no true electives and you can't mix and match the way you want. Because there's such a time constraint, part of our MD credit count toward our MPH. This means that they pretty much chose what they feel is most important for the students to learn.

If you can't find a dual MD/MPP program, waiting allows you to avoid the issue of taking away from your MD studies with coursework and requirements that you truly couldn't care less about. It's a lot of work; we finished Neuro last Friday and start Cardio on Monday. I'm sitting in clinic now doing screenings for a project on my springbreak. Make sure you're getting the best out of your time.

Hi all! I'm wondering if any of you are pursuing a dual degree with an interest in health policy? How feasible is it to be both active as physician in the clinic and pursue health policy in my career? I am especially interested in policy affecting children (in parallel with my interest in pediatrics) and policy affecting family and primary care physicians. Any advice or anecdotes to share?

To answer OP's question. There are plenty of docs that are still clinical while working on their PH goals. First person that comes to mind is a resident at my school that fought for policy and created the first needle exchange program in the county.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Starting peds residency in July and I also hope to go into healthcare policy, with a focus on kids.

I was told residents can get involved in high up boards in the state and things, which is something I'm thinking of doing if I can make it a part of my independent project or elective time in residency. They might have ways for Med students to get involved too, so I would look into that.

I was also considering an MPH, but I heard future employers and programs may pay for it if I wait (not sure how true this is tbh), and more importantly, I honestly don't know what I would do with an MPH right now, so I'm waiting to see if I actually enjoy policy work and if I will need the MPH before committing to it.

Best of luck! Always fun to see others with a unique shared interest.

 

[FlameBroiledDoc]

You don't need to have a Master's degree to work in policy or research, unless perhaps it's for a public institution like a government department. The Master's might open more doors, but as other comments indicate, you can always pursue it down the road.

That being said, as brutal as it can be now, it's much easier to get a Master's degree when you're young than when you're working full time and/or have a family. I did my MPH while in practice with young kids and it was murder.

 

[MedAspirations]

Not impossible but, you'd be hard-pressed to find a combined degree program for this specific route as opposed to the more general dual programs (md-mph/phd/jd/mba).

Thank you for this reply! I should have been more specific in saying I am leaning towards attending the University of Michigan for medical school. They offer dual 5 year MD/MPP and MD/MPH programs. They offer an MPH in Health management and policy, as well as very specific public health courses in the MPP program. It seems that if I were to take either routes I could take courses in policy and courses in public health, with more of one area in each program. Thank you for this reply!!

 

[takeurmeds02]

Thank you for this reply! I should have been more specific in saying I am leaning towards attending the University of Michigan for medical school. They offer dual 5 year MD/MPP and MD/MPH programs. They offer an MPH in Health management and policy, as well as very specific public health courses in the MPP program. It seems that if I were to take either routes I could take courses in policy and courses in public health, with more of one area in each program. Thank you for this reply!!

Ahhh okay. I'd probably go MPH in mgt/policy with MPP focus. You're skillset expands and you become more attractive for positions that may be hybrid and not strictly policy. That's the only downside I see with the MPP is that you could possibly pigeon-hole yourself in the future. But like I said before, weigh your passion for policy against your ability to tolerate learning about other disciplines in PH while also in medschool.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Hi all! I'm wondering if any of you are pursuing a dual degree with an interest in health policy? How feasible is it to be both active as physician in the clinic and pursue health policy in my career? I am especially interested in policy affecting children (in parallel with my interest in pediatrics) and policy affecting family and primary care physicians. Any advice or anecdotes to share?

Quite easy. I know many people in pediatrics involved in health policy. Many children have health policy issues that are frankly, often ignored (if you can't vote, you don't count... so to speak). The key though is to be in an academic center with access to a state or federal government. The "easiest" way to to start at the state level, gain reputation (within the state health department and local AAP chapter) and then move up to the federal level. There are many child related issues that start at the state level and then if they gain enough traction, go on to nation-wide policy. So when you go into residency my advice would be 1) become your residency's AAP representative 2) go to a residency in a state capital or in DC 3) find a mentor with connections though local governments 4) procure state funding on child-health policy initiatives (CATCH grants are great for residents) 5) publish often. For faculty positions, rinse and repeat.