Kavita Radhakrishnan, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, will give the School of Nursing’s 26th Annual Bonnie Bullough Lecture on April 21.

Radhakrishnan, the keynote speaker for the School of Nursing’s 10th Annual Research Day, will present “Trajectory of a Gaming-Focused Digital Health Research Program for Cardiovascular Self-Management.”

Radhakrishnan’s research applies current and emerging technologies, such as telemonitoring, connected sensors and digital gaming, to facilitate chronic disease self-management. The long-term goal of her research is to develop affordable and scalable health interventions that enable “aging in place.”

Currently she is principal investigator of two R01-funded randomized controlled trials that examine digital gaming and connected sensors to enable self-management behaviors for cardiovascular diseases. These trials aim to address health disparities in heart failure in the southern U.S. and in hypertension outcomes among Native Americans.

Radhakrishnan has authored more than 50 articles on the subject which have been cited in publications from more than 30 countries. Additionally, she served as an expert adviser on the American Heart Association’s (AHA) policy task force on implementation of telehealth in cardiovascular and stroke care, and is a member of the AHA’s Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing Committee.

Radhakrishnan, who holds advanced degrees in engineering and nursing, also serves on study section review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the Expert Panel on Informatics and Technology of the Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). She is also a member of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services' Texas Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke Partnership.

The School of Nursing’s Annual Research Day brings together Western New York nursing scholars to share advancements in health care research and practice. The lecture will begin at 9 a.m. in Hayes Hall, South Campus, followed by a poster session and awards ceremony.

The Bullough Lecture was established in 1997 by Vern Bullough to honor the memory of his wife and colleague, Bonnie Bullough, dean of the School of Nursing from 1980-91, by bringing prominent leaders in the field to speak to the School of Nursing community.

For more information and to register, visit the event’s registration page.