Hi all,

I have been offered places on the MSc Epidemiology/ Modern Epidemiology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/ Imperial respectively and am in the process of making a decision as to which to pursue. They're clearly both good universities and I'm looking at the research being undertaken at each to see if I find myself more interested in one than the other, but if possible I'd also like to hear from anyone who has first hand experience of either of the courses.

Is anyone able to offer me any insight - any perceived pros and cons or an opinion on which is the "better" option to pursue.

Alternatively, as I've been writing this message it occured to me whether I could contact the unis and ask if they could put me in touch with a current student to speak to - any thoughts on this approach?

Many thanks,

Magster

What are your research/topic interests? Non-communicable or communicable disease? Do you want to go into theoretical research or maybe something more applied like field work/ applying public health interventions?

Both programmes have their strengths but which is best may depend on what you're looking to do next (and what your background is).

Hi Hazy Jane,

I am currently leaning more towards non-communicable disease, though I initially got interested in epidemiology from the infectious side during my undergraduate degree – genetics.
I’ve been out of science for a couple of years now so would like something that gives me a chance to get quite a broad overview the first term before specialising further.

I saw you posed a question a couple of years ago regarding public health/ epidemiology – if you don’t mind me asking, which did you decide to pursue and where?
You say both have their strengths, what do you think these are?

Thanks for your help.

My husband did a masters in epidemiology at LSHTM, I will ask him what he thinks when he gets back. :-)

Thanks Moonblue :)

My husband enjoyed the course and says he was happy with it - but that was quite a while ago (15+ years, eek!), so obviously he doesn't know how/if it has changed now! Good luck with whatever you decide to do. :-)

======= Date Modified 12 Aug 2011 19:30:58 =======
Sorry, double post - how did that happen!?

I did the MSc in Epi at LSHTM. I loved it. It's a great place to study with a very interesting mixture of people from different countries and academic disciplines. The course is very well designed and delivered and the core epidemiology/statistics teaching is excellent. I would highly recommend it.

I don't know the programme at Imperial in detail, nor do I know anyone who has done it. My impression of the MSc there at the time I was applying was that it had a heavy emphasis on infectious disease modelling, which wasn't my cup of tea. I notice now that they have pathways within the masters so if I were to have gone there I would have opted for the biostats or chronic disease pathway, but I don't think those were explicitly available at the time I was looking. I think Imperial are increasing the size/scope of their public health department at the moment.

I do have one gripe with the LSHTM course which is that my interests are non-communicable/chronic diseases, and the way the optional modules were organised worked far better if you were into infectious diseases. That said, If I had my time again, I would go to LSHTM, just because it's such a great place to be, and I learnt a lot from my fellow students and all the extra seminars and events that go on there. I think also the course was going to be restructured a bit in terms of modules so maybe a clearer chronic disease pathway will feature in that.

If you want to contact current students I know that LSHTM are amenable to those kind of requests and I'm sure Imperial would be too. You might also like to read this:
http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20002805

Good luck with your decision.

I would say LSHTM because of it's research links both UK and worldwide- if you are looking for a PhD afterwards there are plenty of research group links. LSHTM is in Bloomsbury rather than Kensington like Imperial, both expensive areas of London but Bloomsbury is more student focused than Kensington so you can find some lower priced food than in the more tourist-y area of Kensington.

Plus LSHTM is more specialist in tropical medicine (which I assume you are interested in) whereas Imperial has an fairly good sized tropical medicine department. My PhD supervisor is already telling me to get connections to LSHTM so I could hopefully (fingers crossed I even pass my PhD) find a post-doc!

Thanks Elmo310 and Hazyjane, I really appreciate you sharing your opinions on these courses!

Hi Magster,
Tbh both institutions are equally good in terms of reputation but I would personally favour Imperial more over LSHTM as it is more well recognised.

Good luck in whatever you choose at the end.

I'm inclined to disagree. As a university Imperial is better known worldwide but within the fields of epi and public health LSHTM's reputation is probably second only to Harvard. Courses there have a lot of kudos and the opportunity to make connections is excellent. If you have any interest in global health then it would be particularly advisable to go there.

But to be honest either way you're going to get a good programme at a good institution so I don't think you can really make a terrible decision here. :)

Sorry to Hijack this thread, but HazyJane, what do you recommend if my interests are non-comm (obesity) and interested in the applied science, probably doing public health interventions? i came from a research background (biological sciences) but I dont think doing a PhD is what I want to do in the future. Do you mind sharing their strengths? I actually applied for Public Health then Epi in both universities, as I thought the former gives me a more rounded perspective for interventions.

And since we are on that topic, what do you know about the reputation of Karolinska Institute for public health? It is my other option and since there is no ranking of publiv health schools worldwide, it makes selection a bit tough.

Thanks!

======= Date Modified 30 Jan 2012 15:37:43 =======

Ok, so a number of things you're considering

1. Public Health vs Epidemiology
When I was choosing between the two, I was told that if I wanted to be a researcher (which I did) I should go for epi as it provides a stronger analytical training. But for you, if you don't want to do a PhD then Public Health may be better as you will probably get an insight into epi, health policy and health economics, so your knowledge base will be wider, though you will sacrifice some depth.

2. LSHTM vs Imperial
Overall LSHTM has a worldwide reputation for epi/public health. I don't know how well regarded Imperial is for these subjects. As far as content goes, I can't comment on Imperial beyond what is on their website, though I think they've widened out the scope of their epi masters since I was applying, as it looks like there's a more defined pathway for non communicable disease now. LSHTM also seems to have revised its epi timetable a bit which makes it easier to follow a non-comm path than when I was there.

Apart from reputation, one of LSHTM's strengths is the mix of staff and students you will meet there. There is considerable applied/intervention experience there, although more is in low/middle income country settings and in relation to infectious disease. That said, obesity is an increasingly important health issue in these settings too and there is bound to be more research getting off the ground in these areas.

3. International institutions
I can't comment on the teaching in overseas institutions, but based on research reputation the Karolinska is well regarded. In the US you might consider Harvard or Johns Hopkins. Another European option is Erasmus in the Netherlands (http://www.epib.nl/) - I attended a summer school there which was good and they seem to be expanding their teaching at the moment (http://www.erasmussummerprogramme.nl/nihes/).


Overall I'd say that you'd probably be best off doing public health rather than epi, and would probably be fine at either institution. But it's probably worth emailing course tutors to ask for further advice. Also, there are a lot of other UK unis that do public health masters (but very few that do epi)

Hope this helps

Thanks for your insightful reply HazyJane. I feel more secure about my decision to do PH :) But it is true what you mentioned about LSHTM focusing more on Lower-Middle Income countries, as I have heard about that from past students too. I shall take up your advice to email the tutors for more information :)