India-born named dean of University of Texas nursing school

Born and raised in India, Radhakrishnan earned a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai before moving to the US for higher studies.

Houston: India-born scientist Kavita Radhakrishnan has been named the fifth dean of the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, the university said.

Radhakrishnan, who holds the Laura Lee Blanton Chair in Nursing, took charge as dean on September 1 after serving as interim dean since March 6. She has been a member of the university’s faculty since 2012, the nursing school said in a statement.

“We are entering a defining era for nursing,” Radhakrishnan said. “Higher education, health care and technology are transforming at an extraordinary pace, bringing challenges — but also unprecedented opportunities to reimagine how we educate, discover, care and lead.”

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William Inboden, executive vice president and provost at University of Texas (UT) Austin said, “The School of Nursing is indispensable to UT’s growing academic health enterprise, and Dr Radhakrishnan is the right leader for this important moment of growth.”

“Her leadership and vision will build on the School’s strengths in education, research and patient care as we expand UT’s impact across Texas and beyond,” Inboden added.

Born and raised in India, Radhakrishnan earned a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai before moving to the US for higher studies.

She later turned to nursing after volunteering at a hospital in Boston, where she became interested in the analytical and problem-solving aspects of the profession as well as the potential of technology to support patients and nurses.

Radhakrishnan’s research focuses on using technology to help people manage chronic diseases and enable older adults to remain healthy and independent in their homes and communities.

Her work has included telemonitoring, connected sensors, digital gaming and artificial intelligence for cardiovascular disease self-management.

She has authored more than 65 research articles and secured over USD 10 million in funding from agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.