<p>Hello there, I am currently in my second half of an MPH program specializing in Health Policy and would like some advice about where to go next with my education. In my current program, I have truly enjoyed learning about conducting and analyzing research relating to public health and epidemiology. I have been working on the Hill since undergrad and am feeling like politics is not for me, and it was more the Health side that I am interested in. This summer I will begin work on a research project with NIH on a public health topic. </p>
<p>My question is, where do I go from here? I do not want to see patients, but be more of a medical researcher. Not so much in a lab coat testing chemicals, but more of a epidemiological researcher, studying the movement and patterns of disease and that type of thing. I would be interested in teaching in the future, but not immediately. I am not a people person/bedside manner type of person either. I like to be behind the scenes. I have a purely analytic type of mind. I'm guessing my best options are DrPH, PhD/MD or another PhD maybe in Epi. Time and money are not a serious constraint. </p>
<p>My current adviser is pushing law school, which is the dumbest (sorry) advice I've ever received, so I hope some of you can give me some more useful advice. Thanks! </p>