Do Any PSers Have A Master''s In Public Health?

[iheartscience]

I''m thinking about getting a MPH and I would love to hear from anyone who has one. (Or is knowledgeable about them.) If you do have one, did you do a particular track or concentration, and what was it? Did you enjoy it? Any recommendations on tracks or concentrations? Right now I''m trying to decide between an epidemiology-focused track or a social/behavioral-focused track.

Did the degree help you further your career or gain helpful and applicable knowledge for your career? And if you feel comfortable sharing, what is your current general position? Did the MPH help you get a higher salary? Obviously I don''t need numbers, just curious if you think it increased your salary overall.

And of course I would love any other advice or information about your experience. Thank you in advance!

 

[Porridge]

Oh wow Thing we posted the same thread at the same time! We clearly have some kind of psychic link

 

[Porridge]

Haha, this may get confusing

maybe we should ask the mods to consolidate these threads!

You seem to be already working in the areas of what public health work entails. I''m looking forward to hearing more about this, and maybe, fingers crossed, having a PS study buddy next year!

I would most likely be studying in the UK, I presume you would potentially be studying in the US. This could be really interesting

 

[ash313]

Hello, ladies! I have an MPH and would be happy to share more!

I completed the dual MPH/MSW (Social Work) program at the University of Michigan. I will reserve the temptation to talk you into UM, but we do have a great program

I absolutely LOVED my program, the career field and the degree has opened up a ton of doors for me.

Ok, so Thing, I was actually debating between epidemiology and the social/behavioral track as well. They are in actuality VERY different. I ultimately decided on a track that here we refer to as Health Behavior and Health Education. Most schools have some variation on that. In epidemiology, you are concerned with the movement and spread of disease (loosely defined) within populations. It''s interesting, but certainly much more quantitatively focused than the type of work I wanted to do. Of particular interest to me is social epidemiology, which tracks issues like poverty and joblessness as they relate to health. Very cool. With the flu pandemic, epidemiologists have their work cut out for them right now, and starting salaries here in the midwest often range in the 60-70k range.

But I ultimately decided on Health Behavior and Health Education, which focuses on program planning, grant writing, some community organizing and community participation and engagement(depending on your school, mine had a LOT) and basic psychosocial factors in health-related behavior, and you learn several useful models for predicting health behavior. This type of track complimented my MSW well, where my focus was community organizing.

To answer your question, yes, this degree increased my salary by about 30%. I was working as a health educator before, and now am a project manager for a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project that studies triggers of childhood asthma in Detroit. It''s incredibly challenging but highly rewarding work, and in fact I didn''t even know I was interested in CBPR until I landed an internship with this group once I got here.

I found that just putting myself in the environment of academia again (particularly at a very large public school, vs. the smaller one where I attended undergrad) really changed my worldview, and there are so many possibilities out there for me now.

My advice: Choose your program carefully. Some are great and some are so-so, and in different things. Choose one that works for what you are interested in. Go on some prospective student visit days, and talk to the STUDENTS in the departments. They will usually give very candid answers regarding their program.

Ok, have to run now, but best of luck with this decision! I am happy to answer more questions, and I''ll pop back in later.

 

[NovemberBride]

I have an MPH. I got it at the same time I got my law degree, so my focus was a little different than most. Prior to law school I worked in legislative affairs for the pharmaceutical industry. My emphasis was in public policy. I really enjoyed my course work, although I ended up taking a completely different career route - I am now a corporate and securities attorney. So I can''t really comment on whether it increased my salary at all since it''s not applicable to my situation.

I can say that I think it is a great degree to have - very relevant and in demand today. I know my classmates had no trouble getting jobs at all. In fact, a lot of them worked while in school and seemed really happy with their positions (happier than most of my law school classmates for sure!).

I''d be happy to answer any specific questions about the coursework, but unfortunately I can''t say much about a career afterwards. But it''s not that there was anything that I didn''t like about the field, I just was really drawn to the area of law I practice now while in school.

 

[audball]

I am currently pursuing an MPH with two fellow PS buddies scarabnight and killerqueen17. This is my first semester and so far so good. I''m pursuing an MPH in Environmental Health and plan to pursue the dual option my university has with Urban and Regional Planning to hopefully get into the environmental planning field. Scarabnight is doing the same as me, but killerqueen17 is going for Maternal and Child Health/RN for midwifery. I find the subject matter in environmental/occupational health and safety interesting and am pursuing this degree in hopes of plentiful job opportunities and a good salary. I''m currently in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and I find both interesting, but definitely not for me. Epi and Social are very different so make sure you figure out which may be right for you.

 

[iheartscience]

Thank you so much leeNY, NovemberBride and audball! I''ll be applying to the school I work at currently because I get 6 credit hours a semester free. There aren''t too many tracks at my school-just epidemiology, social/behavioral and a general track. Hmm...I''ll have to figure out which jobs I would prefer and go from there I guess! I could also do one track then take electives in the other track.

leeNY-my coworker is currently in the MPH/MSW combined program but at my school you do the MSW courses first and then the MPH courses so she can''t help me out much yet!

I have to run right now but I''ll be back on later to ask you more questions! Thanks again!

 

[sweetpea&babycorn]

heyy, i just posted something in the public health career thread. i see a few people have responded to this thread, so i hope it''s ok if i chime in too

i got my MPH last year, and it was one of the best decisions i''ve ever made! i never considered public health until after i graduated with my bachelor''s (biology) but i''m so grateful i decided to get an MPH instead of an MS.

i went into a program that wasn''t really a traditional public health program. my program focused a LOT on health care improvement, policy, and research. i learned how to write a systematic review and even presented it at a conference poster session. i also had to write a thesis, and did an internship with a local health care organization. but i was also able to cover other areas of public health like environment health, epidemiology, health geography, social determinants, etc. i learned a lot and my program was only one year.

i''m sure if you decided to pursue an MPH, you could concentrate on both epidemiology and social/behavioral health.

right now im working under a graduate fellowship, but i''d love to go into policy research or health care quality improvement. with my fellowship, i''m doing a lot of health care oriented projects that focus on patient safety like root cause analyses, aggregate reviews, improvement projects on some clinics at the hospital, medication reconciliation, etc.

there''s a lot to do in public health, so i would definitely support you to pursue an MPH. im not sure what i''ll be doing after my fellowship is over, but a job with an MPH is usually pretty easy to find, but the tricky part is finding something that is in the area of work you''re interested in.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 11/5/2009 4:14:13 PM
Author: leeNY
Hello, ladies! I have an MPH and would be happy to share more!

I completed the dual MPH/MSW (Social Work) program at the University of Michigan. I will reserve the temptation to talk you into UM, but we do have a great program

I absolutely LOVED my program, the career field and the degree has opened up a ton of doors for me.

Ok, so Thing, I was actually debating between epidemiology and the social/behavioral track as well. They are in actuality VERY different. I ultimately decided on a track that here we refer to as Health Behavior and Health Education. Most schools have some variation on that. In epidemiology, you are concerned with the movement and spread of disease (loosely defined) within populations. It''s interesting, but certainly much more quantitatively focused than the type of work I wanted to do. Of particular interest to me is social epidemiology, which tracks issues like poverty and joblessness as they relate to health. Very cool. With the flu pandemic, epidemiologists have their work cut out for them right now, and starting salaries here in the midwest often range in the 60-70k range.

But I ultimately decided on Health Behavior and Health Education, which focuses on program planning, grant writing, some community organizing and community participation and engagement(depending on your school, mine had a LOT) and basic psychosocial factors in health-related behavior, and you learn several useful models for predicting health behavior. This type of track complimented my MSW well, where my focus was community organizing.

To answer your question, yes, this degree increased my salary by about 30%. I was working as a health educator before, and now am a project manager for a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project that studies triggers of childhood asthma in Detroit. It''s incredibly challenging but highly rewarding work, and in fact I didn''t even know I was interested in CBPR until I landed an internship with this group once I got here.

I found that just putting myself in the environment of academia again (particularly at a very large public school, vs. the smaller one where I attended undergrad) really changed my worldview, and there are so many possibilities out there for me now.

My advice: Choose your program carefully. Some are great and some are so-so, and in different things. Choose one that works for what you are interested in. Go on some prospective student visit days, and talk to the STUDENTS in the departments. They will usually give very candid answers regarding their program.

Ok, have to run now, but best of luck with this decision! I am happy to answer more questions, and I''ll pop back in later.

Just wanted to say GO BLUE! I know several people who have completed the same program at UM and have nothing but outstanding things to say.

And as a two-time graduate of UM as well, I can tell you Ann Arbor has a lot to offer!

I looked into an MPH in HBHE, but ultimately decided to pursue my Master degree in Engineering instead. Public Health is an amazing field, though, and I wish you both the best of luck in your search!!!

 

[ash313]

vc10um: Yay! Go Blue, indeed! And it's so funny, but when I saw that you wrote "HBHE" I was like "Ahhh, she speaks my language!" I work for SPH now, so it's so much a part of my lexicon, and it's funny to find someone in the PS world who uses the same acronyms!

ETA: Whoa, did not mean to bold that whole thing - sorry!