Nisslbody

I'm in a very similar situation, coming from an MS in neurobiology with undergrad degrees in biology and psychology. After talking to a lot of people, I ended up applying for, and getting into, the MPH Epi program at OHSU. While the PhD program does accept applicants with no epi background, I ultimately decided on applying for the MPH for two reasons; one, it will give me much-needed foundational classes, and two, it is fully transferable to the PhD program. This way, I have two years to do gain valuable skills in the field and do background research for a PhD research proposal, and it gives me the opportunity to make absolutely certain I want to do my PhD in Epi. This last is especially important to me because I am coming from a field I was initially sure I was in love with and wanted to make my life's career, only to find that actually, working 60-80 hours a week in a wet lab trying to figure out which enzymes are involved in seasonal reproductive axis activation is really, really is not my cup of tea. What I found during this process is that in public health, coming from another career background, especially a health-related science background, is not considered a deficit at all. I think that an MA in speech and hearing will be considered a strong asset for entering an MPH program. Your odds of getting directly into a PhD Epi program without an MPH are not great, but if you perform well in the MPH program I think you will have no trouble getting into a PhD program where those credits will apply. Most MPH programs I spoke to won't accept applicants who haven't at least taken intro to Epi, so I would recommend taking that as a postbacc, as well as a statistics class if it's been a while since your last one. Good luck!