What can an MD/MPH do that an MPH can't?

[smmed]

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Hello,

I am about to enter a competitive postbac premed program in preparation for medical school, but want to make absolutely sure I'm choosing the right path for myself. Many of my interests revolve around public and population-based health, and ultimately I want to feel as if I'm making an larger scale impact through my work. Medicine is definitely of interest to me, but it seems that in attending med school I may be going through a whole lot more than I need to in order to do what I want to do. On the other hand, I feel as if having an MPH alone might be somewhat restrictive.

So, my main question in all of this is, when it comes to jobs that involve working on a public health, population-based level, what exactly can someone with an MD/MPH do that someone with just an MPH cannot do?

Thanks so much for your input!

 

[thedelicatessen]

Having the MD in addition to MPH allows you to still have patient contact, and I'm sure having that background influences the kind of problems you choose to or are able to tackle. If you're interested in academia or other type of leadership, you would probably still need another kind of doctorate. However, medical school is indeed a large time investment, and I would make sure that's the right thing for your life.

 

[Coclean]

I have an MSPH and a job I am happy with, but intend to (and have always planned to) go back to school after working for a while to get an MD and PhD (whew!)

1. Without a doctorate degree of some sort you will be hard pressed to be in charge of the research projects you work on.
2. Your salary will only rise to a certain point as an MPH (which may or may not be important to you).
3. If you have patient contact as an MPH (as I do, EVERY SINGLE DAY) you will often feel inadequate and unable to provide the kind of help to those you interact with that an MD would be able to (the caveat is that I work internationally in a resource poor location where doctors are scarce and sometimes I have better resources than the doctors that are available.....I feel my lack of an MD and the coinciding knowledge keenly....EVERY DAY).
4. There is a depth of knowledge about what you are doing that you might lack.

As a suggestion....if you have concerns about the extra time you might spend, there are Residency programs in preventative medicine and population helath you might consider in lieu of doing an MPH. You basically take all the classes, but count them in your residency years. Though I doubt one-two more years of courses is really the concern, as opposed to one more year of debt!!! Good Luck

 

[globallmedicine]

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