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This article is from the Medical Education FAQ, by eric@wilkinson.com (Eric P. Wilkinson, M.D.)with numerous contributions by others.

3.11) What are combined MD/MPH and DO/MPH programs?

MPH stands for Masters in Public Health. Public health is an
interdisciplinary science of disease prevention. Physicians who
work in public health are called preventive medicine specialists.
The MPH is the professional degree for those interested in a career
in public health or preventive medicine; MPH degree programs usually
require approximately 50 additional semester hours of coursework in
areas such as biostatistics, epidemiology, health behavior, and
health economics. Many programs offer opportunities for
specialization in areas such as toxicology, environmental health,
epidemiology, and health administration.

It is not uncommon for medical schools to offer dual degree programs
for medical students seeking public health training. This may add
an additional year or two onto medical school. Usually students in
dual degree program complete the first two years of medical school
and then proceed to their MPH work before finishing the last two
years, though some break up school between the third and fourth
years. Some programs allow students to take MPH classes in addition
to their medical school classes to shorten the length of the
program.

For more information, see the web sites for the American College of
Preventive Medicine <http://www.acpm.org> and the American Public
Health Association <http://www.apha.org>.

 

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