Post-MPH Planning: Is a Dual Degree Right for You?

By Jazib Gohar, MPH (EPI, 2020)

A dual degree MD/DO-PhD program isn’t the first path one might immediately think of after graduating with your MPH. However, if you’re passionate about a career where you get to practice medicine AND conduct research, then a dual degree program might be for you!

The Dual Degree Program

An MD/DO-PhD program is a joint degree program where you are trained in medicine and research, formally earning both your medical degree and your PhD. Dual degree programs, on average, take about 8 years to complete, though the length can vary depending on your field of research and your research project. There are currently 129 MD-PhD and 6 DO-PhD programs that currently exist in the United States. Annually, these programs accept anywhere between 1 and 10 students a year, making the process competitive due to the limited number of spots. The application process requires a bit of extra work and can vary depending on whether you are applying to MD-PhD and/or DO-PhD programs.

While MD/DO-PhD programs require a lot more time than either degree alone, have a more intensive application process, and are highly selective, there are fantastic benefits that are appealing for applicants. For those who are incredibly passionate about both practicing medicine and researching, you have the unique opportunity to pursue both career paths in a single program. Additionally, most, if not all, MD/DO-PhD programs offer some level of funding, often paying for the entirety of your schooling AND providing you with a stipend. Finally, these dual degree programs offer you the unique experience to bridge the gap between research and medicine, allowing you to take your work from bench to bedside.

Why I Chose a Dual Degree Program

I am currently a 1^st year DO-PhD student at Michigan State University, pursuing my PhD in Epidemiology. MSU follows a unique 1-2-3-2 format, where your first year is within your PhD program, the following 2 years is dedicated to your pre-clinical medical coursework, the 3 years after are focused towards finishing the rest of your PhD program while doing clinical rotations one day a week, and the final 2 years conclude with the remainder of your clinical rotations. I chose MSU because they offered a dual degree program in epidemiology (not all schools do!), it was close to home (I’m from Skokie, Illinois), and the 1-2-3-1 format really appealed to me. This last point was important, because MSU does a great job integrating the medical and the research sides of a physician-scientist career by implementing this alternating-years format, as opposed to the 2-4-2 format where the entire PhD is sandwiched between your pre-clinical and your clinical years.

 I went from arriving at Rollins in 2018 not even knowing what epidemiology really was, to falling in love with the field and the limitless opportunities one can pursue within it. While I knew my whole life that I’ve always wanted to pursue medicine, it wasn’t until I started my research with Dr. Lauren McCullough when I realized how much I enjoyed epidemiological research. During the summer between my 1^st and 2^nd year at Rollins, I decided to primarily apply to dual degree programs, knowing that I would be happiest pursuing a career that allowed me to balance a medical and a research career. My goal was to meld the worlds of epidemiological research and medical practice into a single career, being able to analyze population-level issues while working with patients at an individual level. With my research interests being rooted in neighborhood-level disparities and epigenetic mechanisms, and my medical interests focused on serving underserved populations, I knew that a dual degree program would be the perfect intersection for my interests.

I cannot overstate how useful and practical my MPH and my experiences at Rollins has been during my DO-PhD program. I was able to gain equivalency credits for nearly half of my courses at MSU because I had already taken them at Rollins, which shortens the total length of my program. Further, having a strong epidemiological background from my time at Rollins has prepared me in being able to code fluently in both SAS and R, engage in meaningful and thoughtful conversations in my courses, and most importantly has allowed me to get started on research as well. All of my training at Rollins gave me the foundation and the bandwidth to take more courses per semester and to engage in multiple research projects, including my dissertation research. I don’t think I would be where I am today if it wasn’t for my experiences at Rollins, which is a pretty awesome indication of how powerful a Rollins education is!

My Advice to You

First and foremost, I think the biggest piece of advice I can offer is to think long and hard about your desire to pursue a dual degree program before applying. Talk to people you may know who are currently in these programs, talk to people who have completed this program, and talk to your family as well. 8 years is a lot of your life to commit to a rigorous program, and you don’t want to realize a few years in that this may not be for you.

Understand what the life of a physician-scientist may look like after your schooling is complete. A majority of graduates pursue a career in academia, often researching 4 days a week and seeing patients 1 day a week. If you like both research and medical practice but you don’t think you want to commit that much time to research, or that little time to medicine, then maybe just a medical degree would make you happier (remember you can still do research in some capacity as a medical student!).

That all being said, I personally believe epidemiology is a unique field where you may be able to strike a more perfect balance between research and medical practice. The convenience (and beauty) of epidemiological research is that it can be done on our computers wherever we are in the world, compared to basic science fields that may require a lot more hands-on bench research that require you to be in the lab to progress your research. Further, having your MPH beforehand may also shorten your program and reduce your coursework, depending on your institution.

There are many pros and cons for pursuing a joint MD/DO-PhD program but if you know that this is the route for you, then go chase that dream!

Jazib Gohar, MPH (EPI 2020) is currently a first year DO-PhD student at Michigan State University. During his time at Rollins, Jazib was also a member of the Department of Epidemiology’s social media team. 

Publishing Your Thesis

By Patrick Sullivan, DVM, PhD

Your Masters thesis is a major part of your MPH education and represents hundreds of hours of your work and a significant amount of time invested on the part of your thesis advisor or field advisor.  A great way to get the most out of your thesis — both for your career and for the people whose health we hope to improve — is to publish your work in a peer-reviewed journal.   As a frequent thesis advisor and the Editor of an epidemiology journal, I’ll share some things to consider as you decide how to move from thesis to journal article.  This isn’t an exhaustive list of what makes a great paper; it is a list of some common things that can help you make the transition from your thesis document to a successful submission to a journal.

1) Pick the right journal.  

In a world where everything is available electronically, the decision about which journal to submit to should be based on which journal will most likely get your work to the people who can use it to take the right public health actions and improve health.  Talk to your thesis advisor or other faculty or colleagues who work in the area of your research.  There are often subtle differences in who actively reads which journals and in which journal is most likely to see your work as a great fit for their readership.

2) Right size it. 

Different journals have different limits on word count for research articles, and there’s a good chance you’ll need to cut the word count from your thesis to get it into shape for a journal.  Most journals have an “Instructions to Authors” section that will give you the rules.  Often the background sections of academic theses have a lot of literature review, and that’s a prime place to consider cutting back.  Depending on the journal you submit to, the Editor and the readers might already have a lot of background knowledge about your area of research.  A great introduction can be 3-4 paragraphs long.  It makes the case of why your research is important, what is known on the topic already, what gap you’re trying to fill, and includes a short statement of what you did to fill that gap.

3) Pay attention to the rules. 

The instructions to authors section will also let you know how many and what types of figures are allowed in the journal for different article types.  Always take the time to read these and follow them.  As a journal editor, I won’t reject an article just because the authors didn’t follow the guidelines, but it always helps your case when the Editor can tell that you really prepared this manuscript for the journal she leads.  If you get a rejection from one journal and need to submit to another journal, take time to check the rules of the new journal and get your paper in line with those expectations.

4) Write a clear cover letter. 

Some journals require this, but it’s always an option.  A cover letter is your 1-page “elevator pitch” for your paper — a succinct case for why the journal editors should care about this topic and prioritize your work in their journal.  If the journal has published papers on similar topics, this is a good place to let the Editor know that you are aware of the prior published work in the journal, and how your paper furthers that knowledge.  Always point out why your work is important to improve health or the field — concisely.  Let the Editor know that you are publishing your thesis work.  I am always excited to see people early in their career bringing their work to the journal I edit.  Finally, offer several suggestions for knowledgeable peer reviewers who you think could provide an informed and objective peer review.  This helps the Editors get timely and high quality peer reviews.

5) Your Discussion section is key.

The discussion section is another place where you might need to cut back a bit from your thesis document.  For most journals, a 7 or 8 paragraph discussion is about the right length.  Even if you wrote the discussion for your thesis alone in the late night hours, I encourage you to set up a time with your thesis advisors and others who helped with your thesis to brainstorm the contents of the discussion section of the manuscript.  In my editorial role, I’m looking at the Discussion to tell me what was learned, what we should do as a result, what the limitations of the knowledge gained are, and how this might help improve people’s health or help researchers improve their work.  After all the literature review, working on methods, and fighting with word processing apps to get your tables looking right, this is your chance to think and communicate how your work will make the world better.

6) Don’t let the editors (or the reviewers) get you down. 

At Annals of Epidemiology, where I am Editor, last year we accepted less than 10% of the manuscripts we received.  In your career, you will have several rejection decisions for every acceptance.  When you get a rejection, before or after reviews, it’s an opportunity to rethink your strategy.  If you got a rejection without peer reviews, was the fit for the journal right?  Some editors will provide you with a categorical reason for the rejection, but if not you can always ask.  If you got comments from reviewers, you got a free gift — a list of ways to make your work better or to communicate more clearly for the next journal.  I try to make revising and resubmitting a rejected manuscript a high priority — all the work is done in preparing the manuscript, and there’s no reason to let a good manuscript sit outside of a review process. In authorship (as in most parts of life), persistence is the only real predictor of success.

7) Share the news. 

As someone who trained before social media ruled, this is a new one for me as a writer.  When your publication comes out, share the link and your high-level highlight through social media to help people learn about the new knowledge you’ve shared.  You can tweet a figure or a main message from the paper.  The Emory Epi department and the Rollins communications staff are great about retweeting our work, so be sure to tag them when you tweet.

I hope you’ll make time to turn your thesis into a paper for peer review.  If the research is worth doing, then the knowledge is worth sharing.  

Dr. Patrick Sullivan (DVM, PhD) is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health and serves as the Editor-In-Chief of Annals of Epidemiology.

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