SPH Announces Inaugural Class of Preventative Medicine/Internal Medicine Students.

Two aspiring doctors are the first MPH/MD trainees accepted into Boston University’s new combined Preventive Medicine and Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Krupa Patel and Jenny Jia will receive full funding for a Masters of Science degree through the School of Public Health, in addition to gaining eligibility for dual board certification in preventative medicine and internal medicine. The innovative program is one of only five similar programs in the country, and the sole one in Massachusetts.

Patel, a fourth-year student at the School of Medicine, will focus on the intersection of clinical care and promotion of healthy behaviors as a primary care physician, seeing patients most of the time while also doing some work in either a public health department or an NGO.  “I’m especially interested in LGBT advocacy in healthcare, HIV prevention and treatment, and general infection control.  Through the program, I hope to develop a solid public health foundation and gain exposure to projects that I can continue to work on even after residency,” Patel said.

This new program is funded through a grant awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the nation’s primary agency improving access to health care for people who are “geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable.” The BU program will enroll two new trainees per year for four years of training.

Jia, a fourth-year student at Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, will join Patel in the inaugural cohort. Both will concentrate their MPH study at SPH in either health services or epidemiology, as well as participate in a preventive medicine research project and a governmental public health agency practicum.

In order to gain experience in both public health practice and in population health research, residents will have their public health coursework and experiences interspersed throughout the four years of training. The goal of the integrated coursework is to instill a population health perspective early in a resident’s training to foster problem-solving from both clinical and population perspectives.