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