MPH-PhD Dual Public Health Degree

The Master of Public Health-Doctor of Philosophy (MPH-PhD) dual degree allows students to have a richer learning experience by developing competencies in both public health and their doctoral field of study. Unlike an MPH-MD dual degree, which prepares students to become medical doctors with public health knowledge, an MPH-PhD dual degree prepares students for careers in academia and research with a public health focus.

What is unique about a Doctor of Philosophy degree is that it can be earned in almost any field; however, when combined with an MPH, the field of study is usually related to public health, such as biostatistics, epidemiology, nutrition, social work, etc. Depending on the MPH-PhD program chosen, there will be different requirements and courses, and the program will take different lengths of time to complete, but some courses may overlap between the MPH portion of the program and the doctoral portion. However, regardless of which MPH-PhD program is chosen, most schools require PhD candidates to produce original research, typically in the form of a thesis or dissertation.

Those who receive an MPH-PhD dual degree will have various employment opportunities in research and academia and can go on to become professors, principal investigators, and scientists.