Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health (MD/MPH) Dual Degree Program

The Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine offers you a chance to earn a public health graduate education while pursuing a degree in medicine. Our program is part of a growing number of masters and doctoral degree programs offered by the Graduate Studies Program of St. George’s University.  Students in the dual MD/MPH degree program can specialize in one of the following three tracks.

• Epidemiology Track
• Health Behavior & Policy Track
• Environmental and Occupational Health Track

Dual degree MD/MPH students enrolled in our program are required to complete forty-eight (48) credits of public health course work.  Fifteen (15) of the total credits are completed in public health core courses, six (6) in program required courses, twelve (12) in track required courses, and six (6) in elective courses.  The remaining nine (9) credits required for the MPH degree are earned between a field-based practicum, which provides six (6) credits, and the culminating Capstone Seminar for three (3) credits.  The Capstone Seminar requires that a topical research paper is professionally written and then summarized in an oral presentation. 

All students required to take the following five core courses (3 credits each):

 

To learn more about track-specific requirements, please go to the Public Health and Preventive Medicine segment of the SGU website: http://www.sgu.edu/gs/mph-msph.html

After completing the public health degree requirements, students would have developed the following competencies:

Epidemiology

1. Describe a public health problem in terms of magnitude, person, time and place.
2. Comprehend basic ethical and legal principles pertaining to the collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of epidemiological data.
3. Calculate basic epidemiological measures.
4. Communicate epidemiologic information to lay and professional audiences.
5. Draw appropriate inferences form epidemiological data.
6. Evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiological reports.

Biostatistics

1. Describe basic concepts of probability, random variation and commonly used statistical probability distributions.
2. Apply descriptive techniques commonly used to summarize public health data.
3. Apply common statistical methods for inference
4. Apply descriptive and inferential methodologies according to the type of study design for answering a particular research question.
5. Interpret results of statistical analyses found in public health studies.
6. Develop written and oral presentations based on statistical analysis for both public health professionals and educated lay audiences.

Health Policy and Management

1. Identify the main components and issues of the organization, financing and delivery of health services and public health systems in the US and other nations.
2. Discuss the policy process for improving the health status of populations
3. Apply quality and performance improvement concepts to address organizational performance issues.

Social and Behavioral

1. Identify basic theories, concepts and models from a range of social and behavioral disciplines that are used in public health research and practice.
2. Identify the causes of social and behavioral factors that affect health of individuals and populations.
3. Identify individual, organizational and community concerns, assets, resources and deficits for social and behavioral science interventions.
4. Describe the role of social and community factors in both the onset and solution of public health problems.
5. Describe the merits of social and behavioral science interventions and policies.
6. Apply evidence-based approaches in the development and evaluation of social and behavioral science interventions.
7. Specify multiple targets and levels of intervention for social and behavioral science programs and/or policies.

Environmental Health

1. Describe the direct and indirect human, ecological and toxicological effects of major environmental agents.
2. Describe U.S. and other international regulatory programs, guidelines and authorities that control environmental health issues.
3. Specify approaches for assessing, preventing and controlling environmental hazards that pose risks to human health and safety.