Sociology PhD to Public Health Research (MD or PhD)

[Seneca31]

Hi everyone,

I have a PhD in sociology and am employed in a fairly stable but incredibly unfulfilling academic post at a university in Asia. I really love the research process and everything about it but have come to detest my field and the direction it is going in. As an undergraduate, I minored in public health and have always been interested in the field, especially epidemiology and public health.

I am wondering what would be the best way to make a jump from sociology to public health research? Some people have suggested that I try to carve out a niche in medical sociology, while others have suggested an MPH or an MSc. I am not sure how much these would help, especially if I wanted to stay in academic research, so I figured to ask here. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers

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[scubascuba]

I've had a few professors in public health that had PhDs in sociology. They had a similar path to you- got bored with sociology and switched to public health (without getting another degree). You could try reaching out to public health researchers to see how you can get involved.

 

[Seneca31]

I've had a few professors in public health that had PhDs in sociology. They had a similar path to you- got bored with sociology and switched to public health (without getting another degree). You could try reaching out to public health researchers to see how you can get involved.

Thanks Scuba, I've seen some people like that as well. Not sure if you'd be willing to share who they were, but I'd be happy to reach out to them directly. If not no worries.

Since I am interested in global health, I've heard this probably wouldn't require another degree, but if I went the epi route, it would, since epi has a lot more specialized methods.

 

[Solara]

Google a professor named David Stuckler. Sociology PhD and does lots of global health policy research.