Originally Posted by shadyhtown

Whokares, I don't blame you for feeling that way. I felt the same before starting MPH, and didn't want to do it - considered it useless. But after taking the program, I have found out so much more about public health overall as it affects society and the world around us. That is the kind of knowledge and experience that doctors become familiar with only after a period of working in the health sector. Thanks to this program, I have a head start there.

Unfortunately, many MD students are only concerned with becoming doctors and seeing patients and carrying out medical procedures and making money. They don't look at the big picture - how the patient got the disease in the first place, and how that could be avoided in future. Physicians have become channelized only to cure, and have left the business of prevention to the social workers.

If medicine is 'Cure', public health is 'Prevention' - and I don't need to remind you of the old adage, do I?

Disclaimer - The above is a generalization and doesn't apply to all MD students or physicians. You may be different - and if so, good for you!