Rianon named associate dean for faculty affairs
Following an internal search, Executive Dean John Hancock has announced Nahid Rianon, MBBS, DrPH, as the associate dean for Faculty Affairs for McGovern Medical School, effective Sept. 1.
Rianon is professor and vice chair for quality in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and holds a cross-appointment in the Division of Geriatric Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine. She succeeds Kevin Morano, PhD, who as senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs will continue to oversee the Office of Administration and Faculty Affairs with Nancy McNiel, PhD, senior associate dean for Administrative Affairs.
“We are delighted to add Dr. Rianon to our faculty affairs team at McGovern,” Morano said. “She brings a wealth of experience in faculty leadership and mentoring to the position and will be a terrific resource for our nearly 1,800 faculty.”
Rianon joined the McGovern faculty in 2010 as an assistant professor. She earned her medical degree from Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and completed a family medicine residency at McGovern Medical School. She went on to pursue fellowships in geriatric epidemiology at the National Institute on Aging and in clinical geriatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and also holds a doctorate in public health from the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.
A past chair of the McGovern Faculty Senate, Rianon was instrumental in developing the Mentoring and Promotion Program, a group mentoring program for McGovern faculty. She is the founder of the Geriatric Osteoporosis Clinic at the Center for Healthy Aging, where she provides care on bone health for older patients with multiple chronic co-morbidities. She also sees patients in the Acute Care for the Elderly unit at Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center. She is involved in medical student education at both pre-clinical and clinical levels and serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Medical Student Research Office. Her research focuses on epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of osteoporosis and related fractures in older adults with chronic diseases. Her current R01 focuses on understanding skeletal aging in older Mexican Americans.
She holds a Memorial Hermann Endowed Chair and her multiple awards include the young investigator award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the new faculty scholar award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Smythe Award for Outstanding Teaching Faculty from the Department of Internal Medicine, and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.
“We look forward to Dr. Rianon’s leadership as we continue to strengthen and grow our faculty,” Hancock said. “Please help me welcome Dr. Rianon to this leadership role.”