Mariann R. Piano, PhD, FAAN, FAHA, a distinguished researcher in cardiovascular disease and expert on the effects of binge drinking and young adults, has been named senior associate dean for Research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN).

Piano will lead the VUSN's research program, charged with supporting faculty scholarly endeavors, expanding the school's research function and directing efforts to increase external funding, as well as direct the school's Center for Research Development and Scholarship, which supports faculty in research scholarly activity. Piano will also represent VUSN on the Vanderbilt University Research Council, a group of 10 Vanderbilt leaders charged with providing input and overseeing strategic planning for research, with a particular emphasis in identifying and leveraging collaborations across the university.

Previously, Piano was a professor and head of the Department of Biobehavioral Health Science at the University of Illinois College of Nursing in Chicago. She has published extensively on cardiovascular health and function, the adverse impact of alcohol and cigarette smoking on the cardiovascular system, animal models of alcohol abuse, cardiac nursing, and heart failure pathophysiology, symptoms and patient self-management. She earned her undergraduate nursing degree from Loyola and her master's and doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago and then completed post-doctoral work at Rush University.

Piano was selected for her new role following a national search. She succeeds Ann F. Minnick, PhD, RN, FAAN, who headed the school's research program for a decade and is returning to teaching and scholarly work.