Houston, Sept. 11 -- 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."

William Inboden, executive vice president and provost at Un...