Welcome to San Antonio Medicine - The Official Publication of Bexar County Medical Society

MD-MPH Program

by William L. Henrich, MD, MACP

In my last column, I spoke of the healthcare crisis in our region as stated in Code Red: the Critical Condition of Health in Texas, a report released by the Task Force on Access to Health Care in Texas and commissioned by Dr. Kenneth Shine, University of Texas Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. In an effort to tackle some of the concerns outlined in the report, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, School of Medicine, in partnership with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, has established a 4-year MD-MPH dual degree program. This program is one of only a handful of such programs in the U.S. and to my knowledge, the only 4-year program in Texas.

The goal of this dual-degree program is to address the significant shortage of trained public health professionals in the State, especially the South Texas border region. The Masters in Public Health (MPH) is the most widely recognized professional degree in public health. It equips students for leadership roles at the local, state, national and international level. Physicians with an MPH degree hold professional positions in a wide spectrum of settings, including clinical practice, academic medical centers, research institutions and public health agencies.

The development of this program was initiated by Dr. Leonel Vela, Regional Dean of the UTHSCSA Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen and by Dr. Joseph McCormick, Regional Dean of the UTHSCH-SPH (UT Health Science Center Houston School of Public Health) Regional Campus in Brownsville. Their vision for having students receive public health and medical training at the border led to the development of an MD/MPH taskforce, which created the curriculum. The taskforce consisted of the deans from all five UT South Texas medical and public health campuses; UT School of Medicine SA, the UTHSCSA Regional Academic Health Center, the UTHSC Houston School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional School of Public Health Campus and Brownsville Regional School of Public Health Campus.

The UT School of Public Health, based in Houston, has regional campuses near the School of Medicine in San Anto-nio and also in Brownsville, just minutes from the UTHSCSA Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen. Candidates for the program may elect to complete their third and fourth year of medical school in either Harlingen or San Antonio.

Beginning with the entering School of Medicine class of 2007, it is now possible to complete both degrees in four years. The School of Medicine and the School of Public Health have agreed to allow shared, or “cross-crediting,” equivalent to up to 16 hours of the 45-hour MPH course requirement. The course load is rigorous, and students can opt to finish in five years if they find the 4-year schedule too demanding.

We are extremely excited about this program and its poten-tial to increase public health awareness in our curriculum and thereby throughout our region. In addition, the creation of this new program should facilitate increased translational research in South Texas and the Health Science Center.

Dr. Henrich is Dean of the School of Medi-cine and Vice President for Medical Affairs at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.