Professor Lopez is UP-PGH Distinguished Nursing Alumna

SYDNEY — Only one of the thousands of University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) nursing graduates is honored annually with the Distinguished Alumni Award. This year the nursing alumni association presented Violeta Lopez, Adjunct Professor School of Nursing,  Midwifery and Social Sciences, Central Queensland University and the current president of the Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network with the prestigious award during the group’s Evening of Excellence on 14  February 2023.  

The Distinguished Alumni Award selection recognizes outstanding professional accomplishments. 

Professor Lopez said the award means a great deal. “Selection for the UP-PGH Distinguished Alumni Award is a tremendous honor,” said Lopez. “I am so grateful for the support of UP-PGH and for the mentors who have guided and inspired me throughout my career.”

Lopez taught in leading nursing schools in the Asia Pacific region including the University of Hongkong, the National University of Singapore, the Australian Catholic  University, and the Australian National University.  She held various editorial roles in the world's leading nursing and health journals. She has more than a million dollars in research funding to date. In 2019, she was inducted into the  Sigma Theta Tau International‘s Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame -- becoming the first and only Filipino nurse to achieve this feat --  for the significant and sustained broad national and international recognition for her work, and whose research has impacted the nursing profession and the people it serves.