Dr. Wipada Kunaviktikul is the Vice President in Health Science Academic Affairs at the Panyapiwat Institute of Management (PIM) in Thailand. She is a Professor Emerita and the former Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. As part of her service to Chiang Mai University, she served as the Director of Nursing Policy and Outcome Center (NPOC), the Head of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Development, and the Director of the Center of Excellence in Nursing.  She has also served on the Board of Directors of the International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing (INDEN) and the International Virtual Nursing School (IVINURS). She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, in 1994 and a research fellow (post doctoral) certificate from Harvard University School of Public Health, USA in 2009.

Dr. Wipada has conducted many research projects over the span of her career, specifically in the areas of nursing administration, policy, health care systems, quality of care, and health and wellness tourism. Her publications have been accepted by national and international journals more than 150 papers, and she is regularly invited to speak at national and international conferences. She served as the Chair of the Chiang Mai University Master Degree Program in Nursing Administration, was the Doctoral Chair and Administrative Committee, and served as Chair of Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University.

She has also received several national and international awards including being inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing, USA International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2011; The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Nursing’s Visionary Leader at their 60th Anniversary Celebration and Distinguish Alumni; Dean’s Award for Lifetime Career Achievement award, International leadership certificate from University of Washington Seattle, the Council of University Faculty Senate of Thailand’s National Distinguished Professor in Health Science Award, Distinguish honor nurse administrator, Professor Emeritus from CMU, one of the World’s Top 2% of leading scientist in Nursing by Stanford University, based on the number of scholarly articles and references in 2020 and 2022. She received and Emeritus Professor in 2022 and the Honorary Doctory Degree in Nursing Science from Chiang Mai University in 2023, and most recently as a distinguished alini in Heath science and more.