Medical Health Officer

[Guest 007]

How does one go about becoming one? What exactly do they do?

 

007

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Last year I worked in a large, regional Board of Health branch that was headed up by a Medical Officer of Health (MOH). I'm not sure what sort of training they had (they were fairly young) but they were involved in lots of population-based health initiatives. At the time they were fairly consumed with anything SARS-related, and as such, their role was largely liaising between the epidemiology departments, other health boards and the public. Additionally, they seemed to do a lot of paper-pushing: signing-off on report after report after report.

 

Overall, it didn't appear that they had too much of a clinical component to their role, so if patient interaction is important to you, pursuing a MOH role may not be ideal.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest marbledust]

I think one possible route is through a Community Medicine residency, although I don't think this is the exclusive route.

[Guest bj]

Hi,

 

marbledust is right. Medical Officers of Health usually have a community medicine residency preparation. However, there are lots of MOHs and few community medicine specialists out there, so many of the positions are filled by physicians (often family doctors) with some extra training or experience in public health. Dr. Sheela Basrur, for instance, was a family doctor for many years before becoming a Medical Officer of Health. Many will do an M.P.H. (Master's of Public Health) or the canadian equivalent.

 

As for what they do, SARS is a good example but there are many more. Just look at Dr. Cushman in Ottawa who has spearheaded the movement to make all public spaces (bars, restaurants, etc.) smoke-free. Sounds pretty cool to me.

 

bj

[Guest 007]

Thanks.