“I felt that a Master of Public Health degree would make me a better physician so that I could understand what my future patients are facing when it comes to their health and wellbeing,” said Omar Morales-Haro, an MD/MPH candidate in the UC Irvine PRIME-LC program, which provides the opportunity for medical students to earn a dual degree.
Before starting his MD curriculum, Morales-Haro spent a summer in Fresno having conversations with migrant farm workers and shadowing physicians at Federally Qualified Health Centers, he also went to Capitol Hill in Sacramento.
“I was able to see firsthand the issues that farm workers are encountering, it’s a very lonely state of being. My father had a similar experience, so I was able to empathize with them. Public health is where my passion lies and aligned more with my values”, said Morales-Haro who concentrated his MPH in sociocultural diversity and health.
He will be graduating with both a medical and Master of Public Health degree in May, making him a three-time Anteater alumnus, having earned his bachelor’s at UCI in neurobiology. Later this year, he will begin a residency program in neurology at UC San Diego. He enjoyed his rotations in the neurology department at UCI Health as it had the most patient interaction and he wants to be part of a patient’s journey when they are diagnosed with conditions of the brain, such as ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Stroke neurology is one of those areas where prevention is very important. I now have a much deeper understanding of social determinants of health and the causes of stroke through the MPH program,” Morales-Haro said. “Health disparities exist all around us, especially in marginalized communities. There needs to be a lot more emphasis on recognizing risk on a more granular, community level. This can be achieved by training future clinicians and healthcare providers with awareness of social determinants of health.”
Morales-Haro got a taste of community-based participatory research during his practicum experience while working on the SERVE OC study, which evaluates the benefits of a family-based approach to optimizing heart health compared to the current medical practice of individual risk factor management.
Health disparities exist all around us, especially in marginalized communities. There needs to be a lot more emphasis on recognizing risk on a more granular, community level. This can be achieved by training future clinicians and healthcare providers with awareness of social determinants of health.”
– Omar Morales-Haro ’17, MD/MPH ’24
He worked on some of the initial start-up components during the study’s recruitment phase by developing a questionnaire and collecting data. The practicum experience is a 180-hour service requirement for completing the MPH degree. Morales-Haro plans to use what he learned with SERVE OC in his residency.
“There aren’t many Latinx neurologists, only 6.7% in the US, and even rarer are the ones who are trained in public health,” he added. “I’m looking forward to doing more research and interventions in stroke disparities in a border city, such as San Diego.”
The MD/MPH dual degree has grown steadily over the past few years. There are currently eight students going through the MD/MPH program with two expected to graduate in 2024 and another six in 2025. The dual degree program began in 2012 with one student and in the Fall of 2024, 14 MD/MPH students will be enrolled in the program.
Morales-Haro believes that a public health degree lets physicians see the bigger picture. Courses include program evaluation, health policy and management, and other foundations in public health.
“When we’re in the business of helping people improve their health, we should be taking a step back and evaluating the systems in which we practice,” said Morales-Haro. “A public health perspective provides an opportunity to help fix things in our healthcare system that could be working better for everyone.”
