Dr. Jason Alacapa is a medical and public health professional with more than eight years of progressive experience in health system strengthening and research, policy and organizational strategy, and effective end-to-end project management across sectors such as development agencies, government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. His areas of expertise include tuberculosis, private sector engagement, health financing, technology assessment, digital health, innovation, and implementation science.
Jason aspires to be a “chief health strategist,” a change agent who collaborates across sectors and uses data and resources to address social, environmental, and economic conditions that affect health and health equity. He hopes that his current part-time Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) studies in Implementation Science at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) will help him accelerate his vision and give more of himself to others.
He also earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of the Philippines (both with cum laude honors), an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management with an exchange program at the Yale School of Management, a dual MPH in Economic Evaluation and a Master of Health Management (both with high distinction honors) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and a Public Health Informatics Certificate from JHU.
Since returning to the Philippines from his studies in Sydney in December 2018, he founded a TB-focused NGO-social enterprise and the country’s first health technology assessment consulting firm. He has helped secure at least USD 4 million in international and USD 1 million in local funding for various health projects in the last three years. He has also completed at least 15 consultancy engagements in multiple capacities, frequently as the project lead/director overseeing a team of diverse professionals both in-country and across borders.
Highlight engagements include designing a medium-term health system strengthening plan for the then-newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (WHO), leading the Philippine arm of five-country effectiveness-implementation research of TB digital adherence technologies (UNITAID), and conducting a national assessment of the TB private sector engagement landscape (The Global Fund). His success can be attributed to the synergy of his technical and managerial expertise, which is bolstered by a strong sense of results-orientation, participative team collaboration, and tech-enabled leadership.
Jason is a multi-awarded student and youth leader in the Philippines, having received the University Chancellor’s Award for the Most Outstanding Student (2012), being named one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (2014), the Australia Alumni Excellence-Young Achiever Awardee (2019), the BMJ Global Health Award (2020), and being named one of The Accomplished Young Organizations in 2021, to name a few. In Australia, he was the Chairperson of the New South Wales state-wide Filipino Student Council and the Founder of the nationwide Filipino-Australian Association of Student Councils for Empowerment Toward National Development (ASCEND). Internationally, he is one of the first Obama Asia-Pacific Leaders (2020), a Global Biotech Revolution Leader of Tomorrow (2020), and one of Tatler Magazine’s Generation T 400 under 40 Leaders of Tomorrow in Asia (2020).
