MD/MPH Advanced Degree

Medical students at SUNY Downstate can earn a Master of Public Health degree at the same time they earn their MD degree through the MD/MPH Program. Some students choose to complete the MPH by taking summer courses starting before the first year of medical school. Others take a year off between the third and fourth year of medical school to complete the MPH. Students may decide to enroll in the program after they begin their Medical School education as well. The program focuses on the health of immigrant and urban populations and includes concentrations in biostatistics, epidemiology, community health sciences, health policy and management and environmental and occupational health.

Therefore, medical students at SUNY Downstate can earn a Master of Public Health degree while at the same time they earn their MD degree (SUNY Downstate School of Public Health – MD / Master of Public Health). Some students choose to complete the MPH by taking summer courses starting before the first year of medical school. Others take a year off between the third and fourth year of medical school to complete the MPH. Either way, the MPH gives a physician the power to do more. Our program focuses on the health of immigrant and urban populations. MD/MPH students receive priority for selection for the fourth-year medical school elective, Health Care in Developing Countries. The student chooses to complete the MPH with an advising concentration in one of five core areas (i.e., Biostatistics, Community Health Sciences, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Epidemiology, or Health Policy and Management). MPH courses do not conflict with medical studies. Many students find that the MPH courses give them an understanding of health and disease, so that their medical studies are easier and more relevant.

Leaders in community health, research, health policy, governmental agencies, and academic medicine often have an MPH that helps deepen understanding of patients and society and can train you to improve the health not just of individuals, but of entire communities.

An MPH will also equip you to work in the broad public health arena so that you can improve the health of not just individuals, but also of communities and countries. In addition, you will learn to advocate for change in health care policies, help control today's epidemic diseases, pursue a career at key agencies such as the New York State Health Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the National Institutes of Health and work in global health within a wide array of organizations.