PHDA testimonials

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PHDA full testimonial
How did you learn about the program and what motivated you to enroll in the PHDA course(s) you chose?

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.

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

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.

How do you plan to apply your new skills in your work/research?

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.

What do you think were the strengths of the course(s) you completed? Please provide examples.

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.

Would you recommend PHDA courses to others? If so, what recommendations/suggestions would you give those interested in completing these courses?

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).

 

Samantha Salter, Epidemiologist

 

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

I was looking for a professional development opportunity to brush up my data analysis skills and further develop them. I found about the program online through my own search. Reviewing the course offerings, I quickly thought the program would be a great fit for me.

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

All four courses I have taken offered different benefits. Epidemiological statistics was a great review with additional learnings. I appreciated gaining practical experience with tools I wasn’t previously familiar with – e.g. SAS and ArcGIS. Through Program Monitoring and Evaluation, I have gained a new skillset and understanding of evaluation that I can apply to my professional work.

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

As noted above, I have been able to apply tools I’ve learned from program evaluation to my current work, for our program evaluation. Although I haven’t directly applied other data analysis skills to my work yet, I hope to do so soon.

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

Great instructors with content expertise who are also very accessible for extra support, good class size with diverse classmates, and flexibility that the online learning offers.

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

Yes. If anyone is interested in one of the courses offered, I would encourage them to look into the certificate program as I think they would likely find other courses also interesting and valuable in strengthening population health data analysis skills. I would also emphasize that although online learning offers flexibility they would need to be able to set aside a chunk of time each week to successfully complete the course and make the most of it.

 

Chisato Ito, Clinical Consultant

 

PHDA 03 Population Health and Geographical Information Systems
"I found PHDA 03 (Population Health and Geographic Information Systems) very interesting as it provided applicable GIS uses for health services research. I plan on increasingly incorporating GIS analyses in my health services research in order to understand another dimension of care accessibility during the end-of-life phase. "

Abe Hafid, Statistical Analyst

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PHDA 04 Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection
"The GIS courses, PHDA 03 Population Health and GIS and PHDA 04 Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection provided the greatest benefits. They were excellent and introduced brand new skills for me. Prior to taking these courses I had some brief exposure to GIS within my Master’s program and through the free online PopData courses. The PHDA 03 and PHDA 04 course labs were very detailed and instructional, offering good balance between theory and practice. The courses generally had enough materials I could take away to continue working independently."

Sophie Zhang, Program Administrative Coordinator, Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division

 

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

I got to know about the program through my former master’s thesis supervisor. My quest to broaden my knowledge in geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial epidemiology motivated me to enrol in the program.

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

I am really satisfied with the course 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.  Courses which benefited me the most are PHDA 03-Population Health and Geographic Information System (GIS), PHDA 01-Working with Administration Data and PHDA-04-Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection.

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

I have not yet applied the acquired skills to my research, but the skills will be useful for my future research work.

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

The program’s strength emerged from how the courses were offered with typical examples such as offering PHDA 03 before PHDA 04 and also the incorporation of Lab work into the course curriculum which provided the opportunity for more practical knowledge to be gained. Another strength is the friendly learning environment and willingness of the instructors to go an extra mile to assist students to understand concepts and course materials.

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

Yes. I recommend this program to students, especially those with no prior knowledge in spatial epidemiology and GIS and are keen on knowing more about these areas.

Any additional comments you would like to add?

I have not regretted enrolling in this program, and have actually enhanced my skill set.

 

Samuel Essien

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