Is a MSPH a real doctor?

This appears to be an old thread, but I was looking for information on which order to list my degrees and came across your postings.

To clarify a few questions/statements that were asked/made:

1.) An M.S.P.H. is not a terminal degree and is not equivalent to a Ph.D. in Public Health. If you want that you would actually need a Ph.D. in Public Health.

Any person holding an M.S.P.H. is in no way authorized to interfere with individuals in any way similar to a licensed physician. There are two variants within public health. An M.P.H. and an M.S.P.H. The former is for practitioners and is often the degree of most physicians, public health administrators, and hospital executives in addition to their other degrees. The latter is for research or academically oriented professionals. Again, neither allows the person to practice any level of medicine or patient care, if they do they are committing a serious felony that has mandatory jail time.

2.) A D.O. or Osteopathic Physician is a fully licensed doctor in much the same way a standard M.D. is in our society. They have all of the same rights and privileges as an M.D., they have simply undergone a different 'style' of schooling.

A D.O. is typically someone who did not have a high enough G.P.A. or MCAT to get into medical school, but still wanted to be a physician. If that is the case they either go to the Caribbean for medical school or apply to become a D.O.. As long as they have attended a solid residency/fellowship program then you should feel perfectly comfortable working with them.

I hope this has helped answer the O.P.'s original question and cleared up some of the confusion I saw in this thread.

Best Regards,

UIUC ALUMNI M.S.P.H., Ph.D.

Thanks for bringing this back from the dead. My only qualm about what you said is the comment about DOs not having a high enough GPA. I'm not saying this is never the case, especially the ones who study in the Caribbean, but that's a pretty broad statement. Some people actually just prefer osteopathy, and to lump people who attend PCOM, Michigan State, or other prestigious med schools in with them is pretty lame.