PHDA testimonials

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PHDA Overall program/course experience
"I would definitely recommend this program to my colleagues or others who would like to develop analytical skills and knowledge in data analysis and the use of health data.

I benefited by having an access to various analytic tools and different types/sources of health administrative data. They included a good balance of practice and theory. I did not find these kinds of courses were available to me when I was at University. In addition, I had very practical hands-on practice using statistical analytic tools such as SAS or ArcGIS which are not freely available for public use."

Youn Choi, Senior Researcher

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PHDA Overall program/course experience
"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."

Adele Balram, Data Analyst, New Brunswick Institute for Research and Data Training

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PHDA full testimonial
How did you learn about the program and what motivated you to enroll?

I learned about the PHDA program through browsing on web and was motivated to get more training in population health data analysis while working full-time.

Tell us about your course experience. What skills did you develop and which courses provided the greatest benefit to you?

Although the course load was a bit heavy at times, I think I’ve learned a lot and developed hands-on experience in analyzing population health data using SAS and ArcGIS.

How have you been able to (or how do you plan to) apply your new skills in your work/research?

I have not yet had a chance to utilize all the knowledge and skills I’ve gained in my current work, but definitely have a better understanding of results that are analyzed using ArcGIS.

What do you think were the strengths of this program? Please provide examples.

The strengths of this program include: good organization of coursework, exposure to variety of relevant topics, hands-on experience using several analytical software, excellent support and feedback by instructors, and a flexible schedule.

Would you recommend this program to others? If so, what recommendations/suggestions would you give those interested in applying to this program?

I would definitely recommend colleagues and others to take this program for further professional development.

Any additional comments you would like to add?

My program experience has been great and thank you for all the support I received from instructors and staff members in the PHDA program.

 

Lily Zhou, Epidemiologist, Health Surveillance

 

PHDA 03 Population Health and Geographical Information Systems
"I plan to undertake some mapping of hotspots where illicit drug use is most common. For my interests at this time, I found the longitudinal data analysis course (PHDA 05) and geocoding skills in (PHDA 03) were the most helpful. This is because with increasing use of multiple drugs it is important to determine where outbreaks occur and be able to establish cohorts of people who use these substances and then follow over time determining predictors of change."

Lucinda Burns, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales

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PHDA 03 Population Health and Geographical Information Systems
"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 this course and the Epidemiological Statistics course (PHDA 02) 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. 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. The analysis would have been much more difficult without the skills that I had learned in these two courses."

Brent Parker, Population & Radiation Oncology Research Coordinator, BC Cancer Agency

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