Austin, Texas, USA: Indian American professor Kavita Radhakrishnan has been named dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). She had been serving as interim dean since March 6.
Radhakrishnan, who holds the Laura Lee Blanton Chair in Nursing, joined the UT Austin faculty in 2012. She has held several leadership positions within the School of Nursing, including associate dean for research, assistant dean for research and director of the Luci Baines Johnson and Ian J. Turpin Center for Gerontological Nursing.
“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,” UT Austin Executive Vice President and Provost William Inboden said.
He added that her leadership and vision would build on the school’s strengths in education, research and patient care as UT Austin expands its impact across Texas and beyond.
Radhakrishnan said serving alongside the school’s faculty, staff and students has been one of the greatest privileges of her career.
“It has been one of the greatest privileges of my career to serve alongside the extraordinary faculty, staff and students at the UT Austin School of Nursing, and I am deeply honored to continue this work as dean,” she said.
During her tenure as interim dean, the School of Nursing continued to expand its teaching, research and service programs. Faculty members secured new federal and state research funding, including two R01 grants from the National Institute of Nursing Research, along with grants supporting disaster preparedness and nursing education in Texas.
Faculty and students also received statewide and national recognition for their contributions to nursing practice, education, research and scholarship. During the same period, the school raised more than $5 million in philanthropic support.
Radhakrishnan also credited the school’s alumni, friends and supporters for helping advance its mission.
“Their generosity, encouragement and belief in the power of nursing affirm that our mission extends far beyond our campus,” she said. “Their partnership helps us open doors for students, accelerate discovery and improve the lives of individuals, families and communities across Texas and beyond.”
Radhakrishnan is a nurse scientist and educator whose research brings together nursing, engineering and technology. Her work focuses on using emerging technologies to improve chronic disease self-management and help older adults remain healthy and independent in their homes and communities.
As dean, Radhakrishnan said the School of Nursing has an opportunity to respond to rapid changes in health care, higher education and technology.
“We are entering a defining era for nursing,” she 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.”
She described her vision for the school as having “strong roots and flexible branches,” maintaining its commitment to excellence, compassion and patient-centered care while embracing innovation, new ideas and collaboration.
Born and raised in India, Radhakrishnan initially pursued engineering. She earned a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai before moving to the United States for graduate studies in electrical engineering.
While volunteering at a hospital in Boston, she developed an interest in nursing and its combination of analytical problem-solving and patient care. She also became interested in how technology could better support nurses and patients, an experience that eventually led her to pursue nursing and shaped her research career.
She later earned a PhD and BSN in nursing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington.
Her research has received more than $10 million in funding from agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services and Sigma Theta Tau International. She has authored more than 65 articles, with her research cited in publications from more than 30 countries.
Radhakrishnan is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Heart Association. She was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2025.
