Healthcare Facilities Manager Hones Her Leadership Skills and Sets New Career Horizons with Purdue’s Online Master of Health Administration

Victoria Olmsted, a student in Purdue’s online Master of Health Administration (MHA) program, started her healthcare career when she was a freshman in high school. She got a job sterilizing dental equipment at a local dentist office, and soon realized she wanted to continue working in the healthcare field. So, when she started her undergraduate degree in public health at Purdue University, she set out to learn more about health careers. After learning about healthcare administration, Olmsted decided that moving into healthcare leadership would be a great fit for her goals.  

“I knew I wanted to have a leadership role within a hospital or healthcare facility,” Olmsted said. “I knew that pursuing a Master of Health Administration would help me get to that leadership level.”  

So, Olmsted started researching MHA programs. Since she was familiar with the quality of Purdue’s healthcare programs, she started by reaching out to Cody Mullen, the director of Purdue’s online Master of Health Administration program. Her conversation with Mullen convinced her that Purdue’s program was the perfect fit. 

“[Meeting with Mullen] was so easy,” Olmsted said. “I was able to sit down with him in his office for an hour just talking about what I was interested in. I knew I wanted to continue my education at Purdue because of how invested the faculty were.” 

After meeting with Mullen, Olmsted started preparing her application. This process also turned out to be easier than she expected thanks to the assistance of Purdue’s recruitment team, who checked in on Olmsted’s application progress and gave her helpful tips so she could ensure her application was in the best shape possible before applying.  

“I felt confident submitting my application rather than apprehensive,” Olmsted said. “I knew [Purdue] was a school I could easily communicate with and that [Purdue staff] wanted me to succeed.” 

Soon after applying, Olmsted was accepted into the program, and she started her master’s degree coursework in August of 2023 Through her courses, she was able to build her leadership skills, learn about different aspects of healthcare administration like financial management, and collaborate with a cohort of other healthcare professionals – all while working fulltime as an operations analyst at Medxcel, a healthcare facilities service provider. 

“The program is easy to complete with all the responsibilities of my life post-undergrad,” Olmsted said. “There’s due dates, but you’re given lots of time to complete assignments and you can adjust your school schedule to fit your work schedule.” 

Working while getting a master’s has given Olmsted the opportunity to apply concepts she’s learned in her courses directly to the field. At Medxcel, she’s already had the opportunity to jumpstart new projects and put her leadership skills to the test.  

“I just started a new project focused on monitoring different viruses and bacteria in hospitals,” Olmsted said. “It’s a pilot project, but it’s been awesome to see my leadership in making a project like this happen at a large hospital.” 

Olmsted has also enjoyed bonding with her MHA cohort. Her classmates are from all over the world, and many of them have extensive experience in the healthcare industry. From Olmsted’s perspective, they all have something to teach each other, and everyone brings a unique perspective to the virtual classroom. She experienced this firsthand working with one of her colleagues on a group project.  

“My project partner was from Illinois, and she had a deep understanding of healthcare because she’d been working in the field for 20 years,” Olmsted said. “It was really cool to get her insight on what she thought about our project and how we were going to create a budget for it. She had experience in that area already, so it was a good learning from your peer moment.” 

Olmsted is set to graduate in August of 2025, and she can already see how her MHA will have a positive impact on her career. Her classes have challenged her to pick up new skills – like doing budgeting and practicing insurance reimbursements.  She also can see herself taking on more leadership responsibilities at work. She credits the program with giving her the confidence to take these new opportunities in stride.  

“My MHA has allowed me to know that I can go further in my career,” Olmsted said. “Right now I’m in operations, and I’m really striving to get up into an executive level as I continue to grow in my career. I don’t think I would feel as comfortable pursuing leadership roles without my MHA.” 

 To learn more about Purdue’s online Master of Health Administration, please visit the program’s webpage.