Bayesian Disease Mapping
"A well delivered workshop on topics that are relevant and important in today’s working environment. The hand outs and textbook written by Dr. Lawson, a leading expert in Bayesian Disease Mapping, will be useful references for future work in this area."
"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."
"The courses that provided me the greatest benefit included the Population Health and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection.
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, which 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."
"The Epidemiological Statistics course includes a range of topics from calculating relative risk to meta-analysis. The instructor took the time to ensure all students were able to do the assignments and the course readings included useful references. I would recommend this course for anyone who is working in population and public health and uses epidemiological methods in their employment."
My postdoctoral supervisor suggested it to me – my PhD work was qualitative, and I’m interested in doing more mixed-methods and quantitative research using administrative data so it seemed like a good fit. The fact that it was online and I could take the courses at my own pace was an additional motivator.
I developed a number of skills, most importantly in working with administrative data and statistical analysis. The evaluation course was probably the most useful as it is something I’d like to incorporate into my future research much more.
I am currently planning an evaluation of a health program that will include using administrative data, so hopefully it will give me plenty of opportunity to use the skills I’ve developed.
The flexibility of timing due to the entirely online nature of the program stood out to me. I could work on things when I had the time, which I think is a great feature for people who are generally working full time. I also liked the mix of discussion and individual assignments in the courses; getting to hear others’ opinions and experiences was very useful.
Yes, I would recommend this program to others, although I would definitely suggest only taking one course at a time. Even working only part time, taking two courses at once was a bit much.
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