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. 2021 Sep-Oct;136(5):640-647.
doi: 10.1177/0033354920978422. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

Dual MD-MPH Degree Students in the United States: Moving the Medical Workforce Toward Population Health

Jo Marie Reilly  1 , Christine M Plepys  2 , Michael R Cousineau  3
Affiliations

Dual MD-MPH Degree Students in the United States: Moving the Medical Workforce Toward Population Health

Jo Marie Reilly et al. Public Health Rep. 2021 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Objective: A growing need exists to train physicians in population health to meet the increasing need and demand for physicians with leadership, health data management/metrics, and epidemiology skills to better serve the health of the community. This study examines current trends in students pursuing a dual doctor of medicine (MD)-master of public health (MPH) degree (MD-MPH) in the United States.

Methods: We conducted an extensive literature review of existing MD-MPH databases to determine characteristics (eg, sex, race/ethnicity, MPH area of study) of this student cohort in 2019. We examined a trend in the MD community to pursue an MPH career, adding additional public health and health care policy training to the MD workforce. We conducted targeted telephone interviews with 20 admissions personnel and faculty at schools offering MD-MPH degrees in the United States with the highest number of matriculants and graduates. Interviews focused on curricula trends in medical schools that offer an MD-MPH degree.

Results: No literature describes the US MD-MPH cohort, and available MD-MPH databases are limited and incomplete. We found a 434% increase in the number of students pursuing an MD-MPH degree from 2010 to 2018. The rate of growth was greater than the increase in either the number of medical students (16%) or the number of MPH students (65%) alone. Moreover, MD-MPH students as a percentage of total MPH students more than tripled, from 1.1% in 2010 to 3.6% in 2018.

Conclusions: As more MD students pursue public health training, the impact of an MPH degree on medical school curricula, MD-MPH graduates, and MD-MPH career pursuits should be studied using accurate and comprehensive databases.

Keywords: MPH; dual-degree; medical students.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Percentage of total master of public health (MPH) students and graduates who earned doctor of medicine (MD)–MPH dual degrees, United States, 2010-2018. Data source: Unpublished data from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH annual data collection, 2010-2018, 2019). The number of students is based on data from schools that reported students and graduates during that year. Not all schools that offer the MD–MPH dual degree report data on students and graduates.
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