Khairunnissa Hooda

Chief Nursing Officer, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Pakistan

Khairunnissa Hooda is the Chief Nursing Officer at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Pakistan. A distinguished healthcare executive with more than three decades of experience in nursing leadership and healthcare management, she provides strategic oversight for nursing services across the health system, ensuring the delivery of safe, compassionate, high-quality, and patient-centred care.

As Chief Nursing Officer, Ms Hooda is a strong advocate for elevating the role of nurses and midwives as drivers of healthcare transformation and key contributors to organisational success. Under her leadership, nursing professionals are empowered to influence clinical decision-making, advance evidence-based practice, shape health policy, and strengthen the resilience and sustainability of healthcare systems.

Recognised for her visionary leadership, Ms Hooda has fostered a culture of accountability, excellence, and continuous improvement through investments in leadership development, digital readiness, and innovation. Her commitment to professional nursing practice has strengthened governance structures, and created an environment where nurses are equipped to anticipate emerging healthcare challenges and lead to meaningful system-wide change.

Throughout her career, Ms Hooda has championed transformative initiatives that have enhanced patient outcomes, workforce effectiveness, and operational performance. Her contributions include advancing professional nursing practice models, implementing nursing informatics and digital health solutions, strengthening accreditation readiness, optimising staffing and workforce planning, and embedding evidence-based care across clinical services. She has also led initiatives focused on real-time patient feedback, quality and safety improvement, fragility-fracture prevention, nursing excellence, and digital performance monitoring to improve clinical outcomes and patient experiences.

A passionate advocate for innovation, Ms Hooda has pioneered several initiatives to modernise nursing practice and strengthen health-system capacity. She introduced the Float Pool Nursing model to improve workforce flexibility and retention, implemented occupancy-based staffing benchmarks to optimise resource utilisation, and revitalised nursing orientation and continuing education programmes to support lifelong learning.

Beyond her institutional responsibilities, Ms Hooda serves as Chair of the Aga Khan Health Board Pakistan under the Ismaili Council for Pakistan, providing strategic leadership for community health initiatives in partnership with the Aga Khan Development Network.

She has authored publications and contributed to academic teaching and professional presentations in nursing leadership, patient safety, and healthcare quality.

Throughout her career, Khairunnissa Hooda has remained committed to advancing the nursing profession, strengthening healthcare systems, and improving health outcomes for patients, families, and communities. Her leadership reflects a steadfast dedication to excellence, innovation, compassion, and the development of future generations of nursing and healthcare leaders.