Program Overview

Overview

Our accredited doctor of medicine and master's of public health (MD/MPH) program creates an integrated approach to help students improve both individual and population health. With the combined resources of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and The Graduate School, our students will be prepared to address new and evolving challenges at the intersection of public health and medicine.

Program Structure

Our MD/MPH Program is structured to meet the needs of our students:

• Evening MPH classes: Students complete their MD curriculum during the day and MPH classes in the evenings, one or more days per week.
• Four-year completion: Our program is designed for students who wish to complete the MD and MPH degrees within four years, making them highly competitive for residencies, fellowships, and research opportunities.
• MD/MPH cohort: You will be supported and challenged by your cohort of same-year MD/MPH students that come from all over the world.

Curriculum

The interdisciplinary MPH program bridges theory and practice by having coursework in three main areas plus a professional experience component.

• Core coursework: Foundation public health coursework includes biostatistics, behavioral science, management, epidemiology, and environmental health sciences.
  • Specific courses include:
    • Biostatistics
    • Behavioral science
    • Management
    • Epidemiology
    • Environmental health sciences
• Electives: Round out your coursework with classes relevant to your interests or professional goals. Some MD courses count as an elective MPH credit, allowing you to complete your degree in four years.
• Professional experiences:
  • The Applied Practice Experience (APEx) is a two-course sequence and 160 hours of practice work at an approved site.
  • The Culminating Experience (CE) provides the opportunity to bridge theory and practice with a synthesis "thesis" or "capstone"-style project.

Student Perspectives

The program allows students to spend their M1 summer working on a public health project of interest to them through a collaboration with Northwestern’s Havey Institute of Global Health. This opportunity will provide students with hands-on experience assessing a health intervention’s efficacy, which will help them become more effective health advocates in their future careers as physicians.

Students choose the MD/MPH program for various reasons, including:

• The passion and the people: Students get to meet many faculty and peers who are making a real impact on the surrounding Chicago community and the global community.
• The opportunity to learn an empirical approach to health promotion and gain exposure to another side of medicine.
• The ability to start public health studies right away at a comfortable pace and appreciate the camaraderie with MD/MPH peers.