I learned about the PHDA program while pursuing work at the BC Cancer Agency. It was good timing, as I wasn’t sure about my professional development plans for that year. I saw the program as a good opportunity to develop new skills I could use in my work, where I have a Population Health related role.

Being able to directly apply the knowledge I was gaining in the course made an amazing difference to my skill development.
– Brent Parker

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 didn’t 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:

I wouldn’t rate one course as better than the other as I feel they all contributed very well to my overall learning, but 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.

The program was a great learning experience. As I work with administrative data—at both the local and national level data—I found the structure of the data used in the courses very similar to my workplace data. It was very helpful to have my day-to-day work be in direct parallel to my course studies.

Students came from a diverse range of professional backgrounds, which was really interesting. It’s good to learn how to work with people at a distance, especially in my kind of workplace where I am often connecting with people in different regions.

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.

Overall, it was a great learning experience and really provided valuable overarching guidance to my work.

  • Posted November 15, 2014

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