PHDA testimonials

"I think the highly trained, expert instructors, who are approachable and provide excellent feedback are a major strength. Certainly, the small class sizes allow for that individualized feedback and a continual dialogue with instructors in the discussion boards as well. I think the Moodle course site is very easy to use, and in general, the courses were very well organized.

Through the program, I came to learn about the enormous benefits of using already-collected administrative health data, and the process for doing so. I think my skills with SAS and ArcGIS will be the most useful to me, but the larger concepts of data integrity, (PHDA 01), what type of analysis is used in certain situations (PHDA 02), and considerations when doing spatial analysis (PHDA 04) are immensely important as well."

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"This course is a rich and nuanced exploration of the interplay of spatial associations between population health and exposure to multiple risk factors including pathogen/toxin load, socio-economic influences and ‘built environment’ indices. Well-paced and supported ‘labs’ move from mapping skills and associated ethics to the use of spatial statistics in assessing distribution in population health. Required readings are current and wide-ranging. The final project provides a wonderful opportunity to use acquired tools to explore in depth a personal research project of interest.

I highly recommend this course to all in population health – from analysts and city planners to physicians and veterinarians. The power of GIS to put “place” into the population health equation is a powerful tool. This course illuminates this exceptionally."

"PHDA 06 Health Services Program Monitoring and Evaluation course was a bit different as it did not have an SRTL lab component. I had taken a very similar course within my Master’s degree but it wasn’t as applied as the PHDA 06 course which had a very practical project component. I found the instructor’s experience and feedback as well as the peer review work really enabled me to get a lot out of the course evaluation project I completed."

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 data was very engaging and a privilege – I hope that continues to be offered.

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."

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"PHDA 03 and 04 provided useful tools for me. I had always wanted to learn to use ArcGIS software to explore health data, and have both a geography and clinical background, so PHDA 03 and PHDA 04 were especially interesting."