PHDA testimonials

If you would like to specify which course(s) you would like to see testimonials for, you may do so by selecting the course(s) from the list below and hitting the APPLY filter button. You may select more than one course. Otherwise, the testimonials are listed below, in random order.
PHDA Overall program/course experience
"I would like to recommend PHDA courses to others. I believe the program is very practical and useful to those working in the public health field. It provides a good opportunity for the development of a future career plan.

I learned how to use several popular software programs such as SAS, R, ArcGIS and Mplus. All of them are very helpful. The PHDA 06 course about Health Services Program Monitoring and Evaluation helped me evaluate my work program. "

Wenti Xu, Data Analyst

read full testimonial

PHDA 04 Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection
"Courses which benefited me the most are PHDA 03 Population Health and Geographic Information System (GIS) and PHDA 04 Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection.

I am really satisfied with these courses especially the hands-on experience gained while using ArcMap to map diseases and assess spatial dependences. Skills developed include generating choropleth map, joining attribute tables to shapefile and perform geographically weighted regressions."

Samuel Essien, PhD Candidate, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan

 

PHDA Overall program/course experience
Overall, I had a positive program experience. I greatly appreciated the asynchronous format as it allowed me to develop my skills without risking my other professional commitments. I believe the skills I have learned through this program will be directly relevant to my current research interests. The PHDA program is a great program for anyone who is interested in further exploring population-level analyses."

Abe Hafid, Statistical Analyst

read full testimonial

PHDA Overall program/course experience
"I feel this is a very unique program that combines the use of data analytics, statistical software and focused learning objectives related to the field of health. I also appreciated the fact that it was a fully online program with well-organized lectures, readings and remotely accessed lab work in health data analytics.

Overall the program was very helpful to my knowledge and skill development in the field of healthcare analytics. The program exceeded my expectations particularly because of the remotely accessed data analytic lab work that was more challenging than I anticipated. This work was very practical and very much oriented to real life case examples. The calibre of students in my courses was also very high as most were working professionals who brought valuable experience and knowledge to the discussion forums and project work."

Alexey Skiba, Data Analyst, College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia

 

PHDA full testimonial
How did you learn about the program and what motivated you to enroll?

I was browsing for some relevant programs that would complement my current job as an epidemiologist.  This one caught my eye (and I went to UVic in the past) – the courses looked good, particularly the GIS ones which I wanted to learn as it hadn’t been part of my education up to that point.

Tell us about your course experience. What skills did you develop and which courses provided the greatest benefit to you?

It was really good. The coursework was comprehensive but not too time consuming.  The GIS courses were fantastic and provided great information, and the other courses were also relevant to my work (the program evaluation course and the working with admin data course).

How have you been able to (or how do you plan to) apply your new skills in your work/research?

Yes – I signed up to learn GIS, and I have been able to use some of those skills in my job.

What do you think were the strengths of this program? Please provide examples.

I liked the method of instruction – videos that walked you through the steps of an assignment accompanied by PDF’s, which I thought helped me learn efficiently.

Would you recommend this program to others? If so, what recommendations/suggestions would you give those interested in applying to this program?

Yes – in fact I have… I recommended this to colleague of mine at another health unit in Ontario who recently got hired as an Epidemiologist.  She hadn’t had much education in the area and was looking for good programs so I mentioned this one, and she signed up.

Any additional comments you would like to add about the program or ways we can improve the educational experience?

Great program overall – all very relevant to my profession.

 

Dorian Lunny, Epidemiologist, Northwestern Health Unit