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Welcome to the University of Cincinnati MD-MPH Dual Degree Program. We prepare graduates to work as physicians in a public health setting, combining a degree in clinical care with a degree in approaching health and illness at the population level. Graduates have the skills and knowledge needed to identify and research public health issues, implement evidence-based solutions, and to engage in population health research, policymaking, education, and communication.
Physicians with the MD-MPH credential work in clinical research, designing and carrying out studies; as directors of state and local departments of public health (such as Dr. Amy Acton, MD, MPH); as authors of health policy and advisors to policymakers; as hospital and departmental administrators; and as leaders in the creation and development of global health programs worldwide, among many other career paths.Public health training prepares MD-MPH students to:
Associate Professor Department of Family and Community Medicine University of Cincinnati College of Medicine I graduated from the MPH program in December 2019, just in time for a global pandemic. My public health education helped me, as Chief Medical Officer, guide our Federally Qualified Health Center through the pandemic, keeping our staff safe while providing health care to a highly vulnerable population. I have also used my public health education working in partnership with Wuqu Kawoq in Guatemala, where we have developed a partnership providing continuous high quality primary care to indigenous communities.
Hospitalist Physician; Volunteer Assistant Professor Department of Internal Medicine University of Cincinnati College of Medicine The MPH allows me to be better equipped to work in global health for Doctors Without Borders as it gave me a wider scope from which to understand all aspects of medical care.
While there are individual reasons to consider varies times during medical training, we feel medical school is the optimal time. Adding a public health degree to your medical studies gives you a unique frame through which to view health. It is also generally faster and less expensive to complete the degree as part of a dual degree program. It makes students more competitive residency applicants and gives them time to consider and explore their future career path before the rigors of residency take over their schedule.
Some students worry about losing clinical skills during their major MPH year, between their M3 and M4 years. On the contrary, most students welcome the pause, and feel they return to their M4 rotations with renewed motivation.
What makes this program different? The UC MD-MPH program is truly integrated across the five years, providing a career accelerator for students through early advising and mentorship. The required course on the History and Ethics of Public Health gives students a novel perspective on their public health practice, as well as their place as physicians within the larger health system. Students are permitted to explore any of the seven concentrations offered in the MPH program, and to craft a program of study, research, policy, and practice that is unique to them. While some of the coursework in the MD program touches upon themes traditionally considered part of public health, the MPH program allows more in-depth learning, discussion, research, and public health practice. Beginning in their M1 year, students in the MD-MPH program will undertake a 4 credit-hour longitudinal elective covering the history and ethics of public health, comprising asynchronous and synchronous online learning with their MD-MPH colleagues. Students in this program will complete 19 credit hours of core courses in public health covering biostatistics and qualitative research methods, epidemiology, healthy policy, social and behavioral determinants of health, environmental public health, and leadership in public health management. They will also complete a minimum of 16 credit hours of additional elective courses in their chosen area of concentration in the MPH program. They will complete an Applied Practice Experience (APE), comprising over 120 hours of supervised work with a public health community partner approved by the MPH program. They will also complete an Integrated Learning Experience (ILE) comprising either a capstone project in public health or a thesis. What is the cost of the MPH year? MD-MPH students are charged according to the professional tuition rate listed under "Medicine" and "MD-MPH" on the bursar’s web page. https://www.uc.edu/about/bursar/tuition-fees/graduate---professional-students.html
Some of our favorite books and media about public health can be found here.
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Dr. Bryant is a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Environmental & Public Health Sciences. She completed her MPH and MD at Columbia, her Emergency Medicine residency at NYU-Bellevue Hospital, and her Master's in Medical Education at Cincinnati Children's. Her MPH area was the history of public health, especially of the history of colonial medicine and infectious disease in sub-Saharan Africa. She co-directs the Emergency Medicine departmental Section on Global Health and works in Central and South America on residency education and development. Contact Dr. Bryant
Department of Environmental & Public Health SciencesDivision of Public Health SciencesKettering Lab BuildingRoom 133160 Panzeca WayCincinnati, OH 45267-0056Mail Location: 0056Phone: 513-558-5704