Ai Tanimizu

Head of Nursing Workforce Transformation & Clinical Capability

RN, BScN, MN

Ai is the Head of Nursing Workforce Transformation and Clinical Capability at the International Council of Nurses (ICN), where she leads ICN's work to strengthen the global nursing workforce and to harness AI, digital health and data-enabled innovation for safe, person-centred and sustainable health systems. Her portfolio centres on the responsible use of AI in nursing — shaping global strategies that apply AI and digital tools to workforce shortages, clinical decision support and the digital competencies nurses need — while protecting equity, privacy and the human dimensions of care. She also leads work on workforce solutions, models of care and clinical capability.

Ai is a registered nurse with more than fifteen years of experience spanning clinical oncology care, health workforce policy and global health across six countries in four regions. She holds a Master of Nursing in Health Systems Leadership and Administration from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (Specialized Honours) from York University, and is registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario, Canada.

Before joining ICN, Ai served for the World Health Organization as Technical Officer for Nursing and Midwifery, first in the Country Office for Bangladesh and then at the Regional Office for South-East Asia in New Delhi, India. She led regional monitoring and analysis of the nursing and midwifery workforce — spanning production, distribution, retention and skills mix — provided high-level technical advice to Ministries of Health and WHO country offices across eleven Member States, and designed and led the WHO SEARO Midwifery Leadership Programme, training nurses and midwives in Indonesia and Nepal and mentoring midwifery educators as co-facilitators to sustain the programme's delivery.

Ai began her career in nursing in Canada with international secondments to Kuwait and Qatar, where her patient education work received the Health Minister's Award. A global citizen at heart, she is committed to strengthening health systems so that people everywhere and anywhere can access high‑quality health services when they are most needed.