PHDA testimonials

I learned about this program through the Canadian Association of Geographers website as I was a member of this group in 2013 and have a degree in Human Geography. At the time I enrolled in the program, I was working directly in population health research and I felt that I needed to upgrade my data analysis skills.

In the past, I had done one short online course in mapping within my Master’s program but it was primarily a theoretical course. I was attracted to the PHDA program because of the applied nature of the courses.  I found all of the PHDA courses very useful, and at different times during my program different courses served me better. For example, I was doing mapping in my job when I took the Population Health and GIS (PHDA 03) course.  Then later I happened to be using statistics in my job when I took the Epidemiological Statistics (PHDA 02) course.  In hind sight, I wish I had completed the courses in order of least difficult to most difficult, as the order in which I took the courses affected the learning curve involved for me. (i.e.: I did PHDA05 before I had taken PHDA01 where I could have learned basic SAS skills).  I found PHDA03 and PHDA02 the most useful to me as they supported my immediate work needs the most.

Over the two years (2013-2015) it took me to finish the program, I had three different jobs. All of them have been contract or maternity leave positions, and I believe the data analysis and mapping skills have helped me to be employable in each situation. All the courses have supported my knowledge, skills and confidence to use data more effectively. In particular the way I approach the organization, structure and use of data has benefitted my work in many ways.

I liked the knowledge of the instructors. They seemed very willing and able to give constructive and positive feedback, even at times when I struggled most with personal issues that affected my ability to do my best coursework. I liked being able to use an applied project in PHDA03 to complete one of my course assignments as it made the learning very applicable to the real world. I feel the certificate was a great complement to my human geography work during my masters in environmental science.

I would highly recommend this program to anyone wishing to gain a strong foundation in GIS and data, even those individuals not directly involved in the population health field. All of the courses force the student to think critically, develop time management skills, become effective data organizers, and learn to work in a virtual team towards a common goal within very tight parameters. I found all staff related to the various components of the program very knowledgeable and considerate.

I found the course formats to have a strong mix of individual learning, group work, academic research, and practical data analysis application. I was fortunate to obtain funding from CIHR to take this program and also benefitted from gaining the student rate for the courses. I would encourage others to look at these options early as they are time and availability sensitive but are definitely worth the effort and personal follow up.

I had completed my master’s in Public Health and was looking for training that would supplement my degree. In particular, I was interested in learning new skills in data analysis. A colleague had mentioned the PHDA program to me some time ago. Through a Google search, I found the program details and it looked like a good fit for me.

I enjoyed all the courses. In particular, I found the GIS course very interesting and fun as I had never worked in this subject area before. I also benefitted from learning new SAS skills in other PHDA courses. Prior to taking the program, I had no knowledge of SAS.  I think I enjoyed the PHDA 06 Health Services Program Monitoring and Evaluation course the most.  Although I had taken an evaluation course in my Master’s program, I found the PHDA 06 course very good at clarifying information and dividing the evaluation process into very practical/applied steps/stages.

I plan to apply my new skills within future job/research projects. I am very interested in pursuing employment opportunities in the area of program planning and evaluation. I have had an interest in this area for some time and the PHDA 06 course really solidified my desire to work in this area.

The instructors were all very knowledgeable and experienced.  They really supported students through engaging conversations and encouragement for our work assignments. Courses like the PHDA 03 Population Health and GIS provided step by step directions and support. The PHDA courses catered to both beginner students as well as those with experience in the field. Instructors were always willing to provide extra resources and support – the courses were never boring! The program support and general design also supported student needs too.

Yes, I would definitely recommend this program to others. I would like others to know that both the course content and expertise of instructors provides a great learning experience.

I had never done an online course before taking this program. I found the online environment provided a good learning experience. Both the Moodle and Secure Research Training lab environments worked well for me.

I learned about the program from observing LinkedIn profiles of people working in health research, public health, and at health authorities. At the time, I only had some work experience somewhat related to health but no health degrees and was experiencing difficulty ‘getting my foot in the door’ without the latter. The University of Victoria and this program were not familiar to me aside from the LinkedIn exposure, since I was not familiar with the offerings on the West Coast.

For online and greatly asynchronous courses, the course experiences were good, overall. The content, readings, and assignments/practice were very interesting. I look forward to referencing them and returning to them for refreshers. There are many optional resources I look forward to viewing.

However, it did feel like there was quite a lot of work in each course, from readings to forum posts to assignments. I was working full-time and was glad I only took one course at a time … since each semester was a lot of work! I am happy I chose a diverse set of courses, which were on topics I am very interested in. One course focussed on GIS skills, another on administrative data analysis skills, another focussed on epidemiological quantitative data analysis, and yet another included health program evaluation skills. These courses and their lessons were very memorable. While some specifics with SAS or ArcGIS will need to be refreshed the next time I work with them, overall principles, some common procedures, and where to find helpful guides were retained.

It is difficult to say which course provided the greatest benefit. Unfortunately, although mapping and spatial analysis are interests of mine, they are not usually relevant or appropriate for the full-time work I do. The administrative data, epidemiological statistics, and evaluation courses were great introductions to those disciplines and methods.

For my personal research and projects, I would like to use all the new skills I learned during this certificate. For my current job role, the evaluation course reinforced work planning, stakeholder engagement planning, and reporting planning skills -- their corresponding activities are prevalent at my job. The quantitative analysis and administrative data skills will be relevant to my professional and personal work.

The strengths of the program are the course offerings (which are attractive at first glance), the instructors, the practical work/applications, and the support/information network of peers. The work with PopData BC data was very engaging and a privilege – I hope that continues to be offered -- despite remote connections being a hassle sometimes.

The peer reviews were always very helpful and so were the activities/peer community in the course forums. I appreciated that one class only required a number of weekly posts for full participation grades. I personally found it daunting to participate through forum posts/responses, and usually dreaded writing mine addressing specific discussion questions.

I would completely recommend this program to others. I have already recommended it to a close colleague who asked about it.

I would also strongly recommend it to someone who wishes to transition into epidemiology or public health-related professions before they pursue graduate level studies. These courses may offer the training they need.

I would suggest that they take only one PHDA course and devote all their educational time to that one course (i.e., no other courses from elsewhere). I would also recommend they try to keep up as much as possible with the pace of the courses and to really consider the timing of various milestones in the courses – as the courses vary in intensity at different points. If their course involves remote connections to analysis software and PopData BC data, they should expect to spend a lot of time practicing and completing those assignments.

This is an incredible certificate program. It can be labour intensive and sometimes grueling/exhausting, but everything feels earned. I am amazed at how much I have learned and applied in only four courses (all on different and almost exclusive topics). Prior to this certificate, I thought I would need to pursue a degree in health to make a career transition. I feel confident that I have the necessary skills or at least the foundations for these skills -- and that pursuing another master’s or a committing to a PhD are not the only ways to acquire such skills.

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 learned about the Professional Specialization Certificate in Population Health and Data Analysis (PHDA) program after conducting an internet search to find an online program covering courses that provided hands on experience using GIS and statistical software packages. Initially, I was doubtful that I would find such a program until I found the University of Victoria’s PHDA program. Allowing students to gain hands on experience remotely with software packages such as ArcMap, SAS, and Mplus while having the flexibility to work full time is invaluable. Also having the opportunity to use Population Data BC’s administrative data with these packages offered a type of learning experience that I could not have had anywhere else.

My current job motivated me to enroll in the PHDA program. I currently work for the Maritime SPOR Support Unit (MSSU) and the New Brunswick Institute for Research Data and Training (NB-IRDT), as a Database Analyst. In my position, I analyze New Brunswick’s population health data and federal government datasets.  By improving my data analysis skills through the PHDA program I am now able to apply these skills in my current position.

I completed all the courses in the PHDA program and enjoyed all of them. I liked the opportunity to interact with my classmates daily and work together to answer questions on course material and statistical analysis. The courses that provided me the greatest benefit were the Population Health and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection and Working with Administrative Data courses. As I was completing the Working with Administrative course, the NB-IRDT was just receiving its first health data sets, so having had the opportunity to use BC’s administrative datasets such as the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) provided me with a first glance at what our provincial data would look like, and how I could manipulate and analyze them.

I have been able to apply the skills I have learned from the PHDA program to my work/research. Using the GIS and SAS skills that I learned from the PHDA program I was able to create a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) layer using GIS software, that showed peak greenness for the entire country over a ten-year period. Using this data and other administrative databases a team of researchers led by Dr. Dan Crouse and myself, conducted a research study that looked at how living by residential greenspace can impact longevity.  Just recently this article was accepted and published in The Lancet Planetary Health (October,2017). In my current position, I have also been able to use the SAS skills that I learned from the PHDA program to create and present an Introductory SAS course to government, students and faculty.

The strengths of the PHDA program were the hands-on learning provided through the use of software that is difficult to access, such as SAS, ArcMap, and Mplus. Another strength of the program was the ability to interact and learn from classmates through the course site and the remote desktop. Also, all the instructors came from diverse backgrounds and were knowledgeable, easy to interact with and offered a wide range of skills and experience, which they were able to share with the class.

I would recommend this program to others especially individuals working in academia, government organizations and to Masters and Ph.D. students. I would suggest that students have a basic understanding of statistical methods, and possibly some experience with statistical software packages. I would also inform someone who is interested in the program that taking the program advanced my knowledge of GIS and SAS, and allowed me to improve the skills needed for my current position. I would also mention to anyone interested in the program that they should ensure that they have dedicated time to put into the PHDA courses every week, so they can get the most out of the course experience.

I really enjoyed this program. It improved my analysis skill for my current job and career. I would recommend this program to anyone who asks about it, and often recommend the PHDA courses to colleagues and other stakeholders that I interact with daily. After informing the organization that I work for about the PHDA courses, we were encouraged to enroll and take the PHDA courses. I am sure that there will be employees at my workplace that will become PHDA students soon.