PHDA testimonials

I was looking at programs that were more data-oriented because my data skills were not quite high enough to get a good data-centric job. So, while I was finishing my MA, I figure PHDA would serve me well. Plus, the tuition was much lower because I was a student!

I found the Working with Administrative Data (PHDA 01) was a good course. It was less intensive and slower paced than the other PHDA courses. I took this course last because of my time frame for completing four courses. It would probably have been better to take this course earlier on.  The Population Health and GIS (PHDA 03) course was the most interesting course I took. The labs were easy to follow and I enjoyed the final project.  When I first enrolled in the program, I thought that PHDA 01 and PHDA 03 would be the most valuable courses for my skill development but in the end it was the Health Evaluation and Program Monitoring (PHDA 06) course that really helped me land a job after graduation. PHDA 06 was different from the other PHDA courses. It felt a bit like a satellite course in the program as it included a health evaluation project rather than data analysis lab work. I learned a lot from the peer review process we used.

I just started working after graduation, but so far, I have applied evaluation skills that I learned from the Health Evaluation and Program Monitoring (PHDA 06), including logic models, evaluation methodology, gantt charts and interview guides. My current role, as an Evaluation Lead, will also include some data analysis, so the Working with Administrative Data (PHDA 01) and Epidemiological Statistics (PHDA 02) courses will be helpful for that too.

I think the BC-specific focus is the main strength. I came out understanding more about the data available to help with BC-specific health policy. Perhaps, this doesn’t help attracting students outside of BC, but is great for our province’s capacity for good health decision making.

I have recommended this program to others. However, I also warned them that it was a lot of work – especially Epidemiological Statistics (PHDA 02). I think my estimated hours per week for this course were at least 15.  I also found the group work in PHDA 02 more time consuming than the other PHDA courses.  The work in the Secure Research Training Lab (SRTL) can also increase the amount of time you need to spend on the courses depending on group work or your knowledge of the subject matter.

I learned about the program while pursuing work at the BC Cancer Agency.  It was good timing as I was not sure about my professional development plans for that year. I saw the program as a good opportunity to development new skills I could use in my work where I have a Population Health related role. Although I have experience in this area, I had no formal training working with layered data sets. The Working with Administrative Data course outline looked good as it included making a data dictionary and use of admin data; the other courses looked very relevant to my work needs too.

I decided to take the program as I was looking for in-Canada certificate level courses I could take to further advance my knowledge in preparation to pursue further graduate level training. As a research coordinator based in Kelowna, I did not have many local professional development opportunities in the area of population health so the online structure of the program was very beneficial for me.

Overall the program was really a very good experience. The courses I took included: PHDA 01 Working with Administrative Data, PHDA 02 Epidemiological Statistics, PHDA 03 Population Health and GIS and PHDA 06 Health Services Program Monitoring and Evaluation. I wouldn’t rate one course as better than the other as I feel they all contributed very well to my overall learning. I am happy that I took PHDA 01 before PHDA 02 as I didn’t have strong SAS skills and PHDA 01 includes an introduction to SAS skills from the very beginning. I would therefore recommend that if people don’t have SAS experience they should take PHDA 01 before PHDA 02. I also found that PHDA 06 was one of the most practical courses. I was able to apply the skills that I was learning to a program evaluation that I was leading within the Infection and Control Department at Interior Health Authority. Being able to directly apply the knowledge I was gaining in the course made an amazing difference to my skill development. Overall, it was a great learning experience and really provided valuable overarching guidance to my work. It supported my work in finalizing a questionnaire for stakeholders and reporting findings to Interior Health.

One of my ongoing projects at work involves assessing trends in surgery wait times for lung cancer patients. This work involved analysis of local data as a pilot project looking for trends in regional variations; I used techniques learned in PHDA 01 to facilitate this analysis.

I also found the PHDA 02 Epidemiological Statistics course really assisted my skill development in multivariate modeling. Similarly, the PHDA 03 Population and GIS course provided me with a skill set that I would have had difficulty learning on my own. I was able to apply training from these two courses to some of my current work that is assessing how we can improve quality of life related follow-up for British Columbian cancer patients after they have received their treatment.  For example, I was involved with a study that looked at using internet technologies as a means of following up with patients that had been treated with radiation for their prostate cancer. We were interested in seeing how follow-up for British Columbian patients differs with different levels of access to resources based on their geographical location. Our project showed that internet based means of health monitoring might be a feasible option, although participation rates were much lower in regional areas with limited access to high quality wireless internet connectivity. The analysis would have been much more difficult without the skills that I had learned in the PHDA program.

Anyone looking to build on their experience in Population Health in a practical sense or those working in the field would find this program an excellent opportunity. I would also recommend the program to those working on their Masters or PhD’s in areas of Population Health. I found the structure of the program was good. The workload wasn’t more or less than I expected. If individuals haven’t taken an online course before, they may feel a heavier workload initially. I think the 12 week time frame for each of the courses was good.  Extending the time beyond 12 weeks could get confusing and less than 12 weeks would not be enough time to cover all the course content adequately. For myself, I was very glad to complete the certificate within one year.

I would definitely recommend this program to others interested in working in this field and I have recommended the program to several individuals, including graduates pursuing a career tract in health analytics and medical statistics/epidemiology.  For those with an interest in health analytics and with a technical background in computer science, I think the PHDA courses can support the development of more practical and applied clinical tools and skills. For those with an interest in epidemiology or health services research, the teaching on use of large databases and study design was very informative.  In addition, the PHDA 06 course assists with learning useful skills for individuals wishing to transfer from a clinical to an administrative or quality improvement role.

For those who are interested in applying to the program, I would recommend that they look at the course outlines and choose ones that are relevant to their work place or educational needs.  For those working on their PhD’s or Masters, they could look into how some of the courses might be able to be part of their studies. I think for graduate students, many of the courses could be really helpful. It is a unique program for individuals working in British Columbia as it enables individuals to use BC specific data.

My thesis supervisor told me about the program. My thesis project involved the analysis of Alberta Health’s administrative data on influenza vaccination and I needed to have a working knowledge of the tools of administrative data.

The courses were quite intensive but they provide the analytic tools that were complementary to the course experience I gained in my graduate program. I gained evaluation, spatial analytic and advanced analytical skills for modelling health outcomes data. Health Services Program Monitoring and Evaluation, Longitudinal Analysis and Multi-Level Modeling of Population Health Data, and GIS and Population Health were the courses that provided the greatest benefits to me. 

I have actually used the skills I gained in the administrative data course to analyze my thesis data.  I am currently  working on a research project in which I am trying to incorporate the advanced analytical skills I gained in the ‘ Longitudinal Analysis and Multi-Level Modeling of Population Health Data’ course to specify my models. In the near future, I plan to incorporate some elements of spatial analysis into my research work.

The strengths of this program include:

Excellent, experienced instructors for each of the courses. Use of fellow students as peers to give feedback on assignments was a particular strength of the PHDA06 course in Health Evaluation and Program Monitoring. Also, discussion forums that promoted exchange of information amongst students using real life examples.

I would recommend the program to working professionals, researchers, and graduate students.

My suggestions for individuals entering the PHDA program would be to prepare for a very intensive program and to avail yourself of  the full range of excellent resources that are available for the program, including the reading materials, the discussion forum, the instructors, the program coordinators, the program lead and the IT online help desk. I found all of them essential to achieving a successful outcome.

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.