Preventive Medicine and MPH

[zinjanthropus]

Right now, I am enthusiastic about pursuing preventive medicine (GPM) as my specialty when I start med school next year. I have a background in public health research but I don't have an MPH yet. Therefore, I am thinking about the SPH at the University's in which I have been accepted for Med School. Some of these MPH programs are in accredited schools of public health, while others are not. Does it matter if a physician earned their MPH from a non-accredited program? Also, is it even necessary to get your MPH during med school if most of the preventive medicine residencies are going to have you do an MPH anyway?

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[velouria]

Hi,

If you're interested in prev med anyway (by the way, what are some of the career options in that field? I've tried looking stuff up but so far can't find anything *specific*. But back to the point...) I wouldn't bother with the MPH before or during med school. I think that the vast majority of prev med residencies provide you with an MPH, so I assume you'd have to put out the same effort twice.

I've only done cursory searches, but at the residency programs I've looked at all give an MPH.

If you change your mind while you're in school and choose to do a different residency, you can always do an MPH later. Lots of programs just take one year.

Good luck!

 

[zinjanthropus]

Hi Velouria-
Thanks for your reply. It does seem as though most of the GPM residincies have an MPH attached to them. I wonder if you could avoid having to do the MPH during residency if you had it coming in.

As far as career options go, I would like to work for the county public health department at some point but there are many career options in occupational medicine, general preventive medicine, and aerospace. I suggest you check out these resources;

AMSA Preventive Medicine Information
http://www.amsa.org/programs/gpit/preventi.cfm

FAQs about Preventive Medicine -AMSA
http://www.amsa.org/cph/prevmed.cfm

Community and Public Health - AMSA
http://www.amsa.org/cph/

American College of Preventive Medicine
Slide Show on Careers and Training
http://www.acpm.org/cipm.htm

 

[velouria]

Thanks for the links.

Maybe you should email/call a few residency program directors and find out if there are any special considerations for someone who already has an MPH (like a shorter residency, perhaps? That would be nice!). I'm sure they'd be happy to help out, and it's probably best to get your info straight from the directors.

Let us know what you find out

 

[Heal&Teach]

Great responses Velouria. Yes, most Preventive Residencies involve an MPH. I already have my MPH, and I am currently applying to med school. I think that obtaining the MPH in a one year program, where you won't have to come out of pocket for the expenses (if you get a scholarship or if it's covered by loans), may be beneficial. Some med schools incoporate public health courses into their 4 year curricula, but most require a year off between the 2nd and 3rd years. If you were planning on pursuing some sort of research fellowship, etc., it may be worthwhile to consider doing the MPH during med school. However, if you don't desire to break your basic science and clinical education with a year in between, then wait it out and do your MPH during your residency. I would say that, if you're considering any degree in addition to an MD/DO, then you should strongly consider getting it out of the way, while you have time during med school. However, if your residency program and subsequent lifestyle will support you going back to get other degrees (as the preventive med. residency does), then do what seems right for you.

For general information about Preventive Medicine Residencies and more career options, see the following link (starts on page 29):
http://www.abms.org/Downloads/Which Med Spec.pdf

Best of luck and congratulations on your acceptances zin.
H&T

 

[AUdacious]

I heard that if you already had your MPH then you could bypass your first year for some residencies. Does anyone know if there is any truth behind this?

 

[AUdacious]

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply.