MS to MPH in Global Health

[NurseEpi]

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Hi there,

I have my BSN and a MS in Epidemiology and have been working as a communicable disease epi for the last 6 years. Recently I have become very interested in global health issues and have considered going back to school to complete an MPH in Global/International Health.

My question is - do you think this is worthwhile or would it be seen as pretty repetitive given that I already have a MS in Epidemiology? I only ask because when I've mentioned my potential plans to a few of my advisors/colleagues, their response has been that it wouldn't be worth the time and energy to put the time towards a second masters degree when I could be starting a PhD. However, I don't really have a genuine interest in pursuing a PhD as research and teaching are only a small portion of what I'm interested in.

Just curious what your thoughts might be on the relative merit of having two masters degrees in similar, albeit slightly different areas.

Thanks,
NurseEpi

 

[KGkhan23]

I've only recently become interested in public health, so I don't know a whole lot. But I have heard of people going into Harvard's MPH with a prior MS in a public health field. Maybe try contacting professors or grad secretaries at some programs you're interested in; they should be able to tell you what sort of people tend to enroll.

 

[narahar2]

I would suggest that you look into Doctor of Science in PH or an DrPH. They are good upper level degrees for people that are more interested in the application of public health methods than research. Alot of schools have them now. The global health dept. at harvard currently has a really competitive one, but it is a good place to get yourself familiar with what the degree requires. Call them. They will give you alot of better info that way.

Hope this helpd.

 

[epipro]

I second the recommendation posted by previous member. A DrPh is designed for those into field epi rather that research/academia.

 

[NurseEpi]

Thanks for the very useful information and advice. I am actually very interested in pursuing a DrPH (vs the PhD) as my interest is purely in the hands-on delivery of public health as opposed to pure research/academia. I was under the impression though that an MPH would be a requirement for a DrPH. I'll have to check with a few schools of interest to see if my MS is appropriate preparation (since I'm Canadian and when I did my MS there didn't exist any MPH programs in Canada).

I'll let you know what I find out!
NurseEpi