UCLA Fielding School of Public Health graduate student Todd Alba recognized for his work on capstone project to improve medical readiness in the Air National Guard

Todd (TJ) Alba is a student in the Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program at the UCLA Fielding School. The MHA program is led by Dr. Laura Erskine, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM), and is administered by the Office of the Executive Programs in HPM.

Alba spoke with UCLA Fielding's Gigi Hooghkirk about his background and experience in the MHA program, including his capstone project which focused on improving Individual Medical Readiness (IMR) within an Air National Guard (ANG) organization with a non-traditional structure.

Q: Without revealing anything sensitive or confidential, can you give us a high-level overview of your capstone project and the specific problem you addressed?

Alba: My capstone project focused on improving Individual Medical Readiness within an Air National Guard organization with a non-traditional structure. Unlike most ANG organizations, this specific organization does not have an organic medical support unit and relies on multiple external medical units to support a mostly part-time force distributed over a wide geographic area. The ANG’s missions here in the United States, of course, run the gamut from disaster response to aerial firefighting, medical evacuation, and search and rescue. One recent example, of course, were the 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County; the California ANG, serving under the California Office of Emergency Services, provided firefighting aircraft, ground fire crews, and communications support.

Q: What is the most important lesson you learned through this experience?

Alba: The most important lesson I learned is that performance problems are often system problems, not people problems. While this was a recurring theme of the MHA program’s case studies and lectures, the capstone project allowed me to witness and address this concept in a real-world setting.

Q: How did your background in the Air National Guard and emergency management influence your approach to solving a healthcare administration challenge?

Alba: I have served in the Air National Guard as an emergency management specialist, in both full- and part-time roles, since 2014. Currently, as a Technical Sergeant, I am a part-time Airman and work full-time for a company that supports crisis response capabilities overseas, where I lived full-time while completing the MHA program. This dual perspective as both a part-time Airman and a full-time contractor directly influenced my approach to the project.

In emergency management, success depends on coordination across various organizations, clearly defined responsibilities, and the ability to operate within real-world constraints. I applied that same mindset to this healthcare-focused problem by mapping workflows, identifying friction points, and focusing on solutions that would be realistic in a distributed, resource-constrained environment. Being a part-time Airman also gave me a deeper understanding of the time and access limitations that many service members face, which helped keep my recommendations practical.

Q: In what ways has the MHA program enhanced your ability to support mission-critical work in your role in the private sector?

Alba: Although my current job is not within the healthcare industry, the MHA program significantly strengthened my ability to analyze complex systems and develop actionable solutions. In my day-to-day work, I help develop relationships among numerous stakeholders, analyze past efforts and exercises to identify lessons learned and best practices, and facilitate frameworks for multiple nations to work together in times of crisis.

The concepts I learned throughout the program like process improvement, systems thinking, stakeholder engagement, and organizational analysis are not limited to healthcare. Through both my coursework and the capstone project, I have been able to apply these concepts outside of a traditional healthcare setting and still produce meaningful, high-impact outcomes. This experience reinforced that strong administrative and operational frameworks can be adapted across industries to solve complex problems.

Q: How did the capstone help you integrate the different disciplines - such as operations, leadership, and policy - hat you studied throughout the program?

Alba: The capstone project allowed me to bring together the different concepts I learned throughout the MHA program and apply them to a real-world problem from an operational, leadership, and systems-based perspective.

From an operations standpoint, I analyzed workflows and identified bottlenecks. From a leadership perspective, I incorporated input from senior leaders to ensure my recommendations were both realistic and aligned with mission priorities. From a systems perspective, I worked within existing constraints rather than proposing ideal but impractical solutions. This integration

of concepts mirrored how problems are solved in crisis environments, where success depends on balancing strategy, execution, and feasibility.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience working with Prof. Seth Lake (MPH, '19), who teaches the capstone course, or navigating the program as a service member?

Alba: Working with Professor Lake was extremely valuable; he emphasized applying concepts in a way that translates beyond the classroom. His guidance helped ensure my project remained practical and focused, while also making sure my work was understandable to faculty and staff without a military background.

As a part-time service member working full-time in the private sector, the MHA program has been both challenging and rewarding. There were numerous times when work needs took precedence over my coursework, but the program's flexible, asynchronous format allowed me the time and space to succeed. Working overseas and attending the Synapse Café sessions at 2:00 AM was certainly a struggle, but it was well worth it as I approach graduation. The capstone experience was an intense 10-week period, but it enabled me to directly apply my learning to a real operational problem. It also demonstrated that even without a traditional healthcare background, the principles of healthcare administration can be effectively applied in complex environments to produce meaningful results.