MD/MPH Program
What if you could strengthen the health of patients before they step foot in your examination room?
Clinical care is inextricably tied to public health. UIC’s College of Medicine and School of Public Health offer an MD/MPH joint degree that can be completed during the normal four year duration of medical school.
As an MD/MPH student, you will pursue an MPH Generalist concentration. The generalist concentration allows for maximum flexibility, with 8-week, fully asynchronous course modules that can be completed in conjunction with UIC's MD curriculum. Students in this program will be exposed to essential topics such as environmental health, community health, law and ethics, global health, communications, economics, policy, leadership, and quantitative methods to prepare students for versatile careers, augmenting their clinical care.
Explore the MPH Curriculum
Transferring in to the joint MD/MPH program
First year medical students are eligible to apply to add the MPH. To do so, please contact Dr. Ron Gaba, Assistant Dean of Student Education and Associate Department Health for Research in the Department of Radiology, at rgaba@uic.edu.
Meet SPH alumni practicing as clinicians
SPH faculty are advancing public health with their MD degrees
“The MPH behind my name tells my community they can rely on me to consider what’s best for the entire population, not just individuals in my exam room. My courses in public health helped me see the big picture more clearly and understand the effects of social determinants of health on individual outcomes. I also gained specific skills on how to communicate health risks at the community level, how to use the public health infrastructure to help my patients, and I am much better at analyzing the medical literature.”
“The MPH puts medical care within a larger perspective. My MPH gave me an initial appreciation for the field of epidemiology and epidemiologic research. This was especially important early in my career at the CDC when I worked on a number of clinical epidemiology studies that really merged the worlds of public health and clinical medicine. Some of that work even informed clinical guidelines for medical practice.”
“Public health training broadens your perspective with respect to individual patients and their health problems. It allows a view of the whole person in relationship with their community. It informs the clinician about the risk of disease, probable diagnosis, probably etiology, as well as curative and preventive interventions for the specific patient and their communities. Finally, it allows the clinician to be armed with facts to participate fully in their community bringing the scientific expertise necessary to understand how to promote the public’s health.”