Humanitarian Medicine
17 October 2009 - 3:10am
I am interested in going into medicine as it pertains to international development. Currently I am doing the pre-med prerequisite courses, majoring in Sociology, and minoring in Nonprofit Management. I'd like to eventually practice medicine internationally and take on an advisory role to help developing nations improve their health infrastructure. I am looking for others who have similar interests. Is anyone else out there in the premed club with an international development bug?
20 October 2009 - 10:10am
#2
Hey Meldrum,
I'm going into
Hey Meldrum,
I'm going into medicine for two major reasons:
1. Everybody, absolutely everybody, needs a doctor.
2. The world needs more doctors who are willing to freely give of their time and education to help the sick.
Medicine is a lucrative profession, and it's therefore easy to forget how ubiquitously applicable our future skills will be - it's easy to settle down in your small specialization and forget that a doctor's touch is needed in every town and village in the world. We need to be the kind of doctors who remember this.
Basic message - yeah, you're not alone.
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J Meldrum-
It sounds like you may be in the market for a combined MD/MPH degree. I also am planning to go into international medicine, and/or to work with immigrant populations in the United States. I decided to pursue just an MD degree because I spent two summers working in public health and have realized I really enjoy the practitioner side of things much more. However, if you're looking to make an impact on a level higher than individual patients (such as helping nations improve their health infrastructure), look into the combined MD/MPH degree. For most medical schools, I believe it is only one additional year of study.
-Chelsea