Wassana Im-Em

Wassana Im-Em (Thai: วาสนา อิ่มเอม) is a Thai demographer and academic.
She was born in Chiang Mai. After obtaining a nursing degree in Thailand she worked as a nursing instructor in maternal and child health nursing at the Royal Thai Army Nursing College. She proceeded to Boston, USA from where she graduated from Boston University in 1988 with a master's degree in nursing science.
Im-em earned a PhD in Population Studies from the Australian National University in 1996. She was a visiting fellow at the Institut National d'Etudes Demographiques, France from 1999 - 2000. From 2001 - 2004 she was a Population Council postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington.
From 1996 – 2006 she was associate professor with the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University. Serving last as a Programme Director of the master's degree International Program in Population and Reproductive Health. Her research focused on gender-based violence against women, socio-demographic and health dimensions of reproductive health and HIV, and programme evaluation and monitoring. She has several publications in the field of reproductive health and population.
Im-em was appointed Assistant Representative of the UNFPA Country Office, Thailand, in February 2006. In UNFPA she has been responsible for several key areas of UNFPA's contribution to Thailand. She has contributed to the development of strategic collaboration with key stakeholders, particularly in the areas of population data, statistics, surveys and population census.
She is experienced in both quantitative and qualitative research and conducted the Faith in Action study in Thailand.
She enjoys reading, travelling, and collecting textiles and crafts.