MD/PhD Admissions
This is a compilation of resources and reflections on applying MD/PhD in the social sciences. I dedicate this to my family, friends, mentors, and peers who supported me on this journey. I am incredibly grateful to have you all in my life.
Why health economics?
I love economics, research, and clinical practice——enough as to not want to sacrifice any of the three for the others. I wrote the following as part of an application essay and feel that it best represents my interest in pursuing a degree in health economics alongside medical training.
Health economics offers the promise of unearthing the causal mechanisms underlying healthcare phenomena by applying rigorous theory and analytical methods to broader social questions about human behavior. For instance, the tools of economics can answer questions of how racial concordance (matching patients with providers of the same race) in doctor-patient relationships can improve prescription adherence and outcomes, how a physician’s propensity to prescribe opioids is influenced by the prescribing behavior of their peers, and how the lifestyle and environment of a pregnant mother is deterministic of the health of her children years down the line. As our nation’s healthcare landscape evolves, we must look to disciplines like economics to help us answer more significant questions about how health is uniquely shaped by every aspect of our lives in order to design sustainable and equitable solutions to the healthcare challenges we face.
So you want to pursue an MD/PhD?
I applied to MD/PhDs during the 2023-2024 application cycle. When I began the application process, I spent a lot of time scouring the internet for resources on the application process and potential careers as a social science MD/PhD. The lack of information and resources on social science MD/PhDs was frustrating, especially in comparison to the abundance of information on applying to a basic science MD/PhD. My hope is that this site can serve as a resource to anyone interested in pursuing an MD/PhD in the social sciences.
I find Maya Lozinski’s posts on an MD/PhD in the social sciences to be quite thorough; I’ll do my best to add my thoughts to what she’s put out there. For general information about MD/PhD, see Hanna Erickson’s and Jake Khoussine’s sites, both excellent resources when it came to demystifying the physician-scientist training pathway.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat or want to know more.
General Information:
Application-Specific:
Helpful Resources:
- The Complete MD/PhD Applicant Guide (J. Sussman, J. Setayesh, A. Venapally)
This guide was an absolute lifesaver when it came to demystifying the application/admissions process, finding high-quality writing samples, preparing for interviews, and selecting a program. I can’t recommend a better resource to anyone applying MD/PhD.
- AAMC’s List of MD/PhD Programs
This was helpful when creating my school list, the PDF has links to program websites.
Somewhat helpful, but you need to verify the search results with program websites yourself.
Similar to the previous resource, you need to verify these partnerships via program websites. But this is a great place to start.
- AAMC’s Table B-8
More program specific, but helped me get a sense of which programs were application-heavy and where I might have more of a shot.
His overview of programs and criteria for selecting an institution were particularly helpful to me.
Final Thoughts:
This process was incredibly arduous yet highly rewarding. We need physician-scientists with all kinds of backgrounds and skillsets to holistically understand the ways in which human health evolves——don’t let anyone tell you that an MD/PhD in your field is not worth pursuing. Believe in your story, it makes a world of difference.