PHDA testimonials

I saw a poster for the programme advertised on my campus, and found the course selection to be highly relevant to my doctoral studies.

The variety of courses provided learning opportunities for various software programmes, e.g., SAS and ArcGIS, while also teaching fundamentals of epidemiological statistics and other relevant bases for public health research. The use of geographical information systems in two courses was also of immense benefit. 

The skills learned in this programme are highly and directly relevant to my doctoral research, and are being used on a near-daily basis. For example, I use both SAS and GIS to analyse various administrative datasets, and have found that the statistical background gleaned from this programmes has enabled me to read more critically and use more sophisticated analyses in my own work.

The diversity of courses is an immediate strength, as is the online format. Every instructor was highly engaged and enthusiastic, and was happy to have discussions about course material and further topics via e-mail.

I would (and already have) recommended the PHDA programme to colleagues and young researchers. However, I would emphasise setting aside time to do the readings and work carefully through code. Also take the opportunity to learn as much from the instructors as possible. The papers and lessons are useful references for the future as well. I wish I had kept them on paper!

No, but I want to thank the administrative staff for managing such an excellent programme. Also, I am very happy that they offer a graduate student rate! Many thanks!

I was in Canada and the program seemed a perfect fit to my interests.

I thoroughly enjoyed the courses, although sometimes I had trouble keeping up.  Having said that, I found the lecturers very sympathetic to my needs.  It was great to develop more understanding of the analysis of administrative datasets and in particular learning how to use geocoded data.

I will use my skills to undertake some more specific analysis using linked data. In particular, I plan to undertake some mapping of hotspots where illicit drug use is most common. For my interests at this time I found longitudinal data analysis and geocoding the most helpful. This is because with increasing use of multiple drugs it is important to determine where outbreaks occur and be able to establish cohorts of people who use these substances and then follow over time determining predictors of change.

The flexibility of the modules was very good and I appreciated learning from other students when there was something I couldn’t solve. For example when I couldn’t run a particular program, I could easily get assistance with this.  Having access to previous assignments on the same topics made things much easier as well.

Yes, I would recommend this program and regularly circulate information about the courses as updates come to me.

It was a really great experience and I learnt a great many new things so thank you!

I learned about the program through emails from PopDataBC. I have been following PopDataBC since the organization was introduced to me during my MPH degree at UBC. I was motivated to enroll in the PHDA courses that I chose, because I was not offered the opportunity to take such courses during my MPH. I had a lot of background in epidemiological and statistical theory, with some coding experience introduced through my statistics courses, but not as much practical application of the theory as I would have liked or that I needed for my job.

The courses I have taken so far are Population Health and GIS (PHDA03) and Spatial Epidemiology (PHDA04). Both have made me confident working in ArcGIS, and applying principles of GIS/mapping to population health data and working on spatial analyses. In particular, what has been most helpful about these courses is applying the background theory to surveillance and research questions and walking through the analysis from start to finish, including interpretation of results.

There are two areas that I hope to apply these skills in my work: one is improved visualization of population health data where a geographic component is present and relevant, and another is utilizing methodologies where unstable rates can be smoothed by drawing from the rates of neighbouring geographic areas. Where I work, small numbers are consistently an issue in producing stable and comparable rates.

Strengths included hands-on application of concepts (through the labs), responsive and supportive instructors, and reading materials that helped with learning the concepts. For example, the final projects allowed us to develop a practical research question, clean and analyze the required datasets, produce maps and analyses, and interpret results, which would mirror a typical project in the workplace.

Yes, I would definitely recommend PHDA courses to others. I would suggest ensuring there is ample time outside of your regular job to complete the coursework, as I found the readings were quite time consuming (although very interesting).

I learned about the PHDA program through browsing on web and was motivated to get more training in population health data analysis while working full-time.

Although the course load was a bit heavy at times, I think I’ve learned a lot and developed hands-on experience in analyzing population health data using SAS and ArcGIS.

I have not yet had a chance to utilize all the knowledge and skills I’ve gained in my current work, but definitely have a better understanding of results that are analyzed using ArcGIS.

The strengths of this program include: good organization of coursework, exposure to variety of relevant topics, hands-on experience using several analytical software, excellent support and feedback by instructors, and a flexible schedule.

I would definitely recommend colleagues and others to take this program for further professional development.

My program experience has been great and thank you for all the support I received from instructors and staff members in the PHDA program.