MD, MD/PhD, or DrPH for someone in love with Epidemiology

<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>

<p>Well, I can’t say my comments would be any less dumb, but it seems MD would be an unnecessary path if you don’t intend to practice. There are many researchers in the medical field that do not have an MD. Since you have contact with NIH, how about looking to see if there are “ideal jobs” you would like there, and find out what credentials those folks holding those jobs have? Do you have any interest in genomics/genetic epidemiology? Biomedical informatics?</p>

<p>If you want to apply to MD/PhD, don’t start your PhD since MD/PhD pays you while you will spend a lot of money doing an MD if you get a PhD first.</p>