The Indiana University School of Nursing is pleased to announce that Melissa D. Pinto, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been appointed tenured full professor and associate dean for the Indianapolis campus, effective June 1.
The associate dean serves as the chief operational leader for the IU School of Nursing in Indianapolis, providing day-to-day leadership to translate the school’s strategy into effective operations. Reporting to the dean, the associate dean oversees faculty success, academic operations, student academic appeals, budget administration, clinical and industry partnerships, and the implementation of new initiatives.
The associate dean also represents the Indianapolis campus locally and nationally to advance the school’s mission and reputation, with accountability for faculty performance metrics related to teaching, research, and service.
“Dr. Pinto has an externally funded program of research, substantial mentoring experience, and record of effective, systems‑oriented leadership and innovation,” said Dean Janet S. Carpenter, PhD, RN, FAAN. “Her leadership will be vital in advancing our Indianapolis campus and strengthening our impact across the state.”
About Dr. Pinto
Pinto is a nationally recognized nurse scientist and academic leader with a distinguished record of research productivity, funded scholarship, and leadership within academic health systems. Her research focuses in the areas of symptom science, specifically complex patient phenotyping for risk and personalized treatment using large data, and chronic disease management, developing integrative, technology-enabled interventions to address mental health conditions.
She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, including more than 30 data-based research articles, with work published in high-impact journals such as Clinical Nursing Research, Scientific Reports (Nature), Journal of Advanced Nursing, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, and Journal of Adolescent Health. Her scholarship has been recognized with awards for research excellence, including a Best Research Paper of the Year designation and a 2025 Research Article of the Year Award from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses.
Pinto has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on more than $2.4 million in funded research, including federal funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Nurses Foundation, as well as competitive funding from academic medical centers, health systems, and private capital. Her research has been translated into practice and policy through extensive national dissemination and widespread media coverage.
She is an accomplished national speaker, having delivered numerous invited presentations, keynotes, and panels across academic medicine, federal agencies, professional societies, and health systems. Her work has informed national policy conversations on long-COVID, digital health, artificial intelligence in nursing, mental health interventions, and nursing led innovation.
For more than a decade, Pinto has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing reflecting her sustained impact on nursing science, leadership, and health policy. Pinto is also editor-in-chief of Clinical Nursing Research: An International Journal.
Pinto currently serves as director of nursing research and senior associate consultant–nurse scientist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona where she leads nursing research strategy and interdisciplinary innovation initiatives within an academic medical center. She also holds the rank of associate professor of nursing at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Previously, she served as associate professor with tenure and director of the nursing science PhD program at the University of California, Irvine, where she led doctoral program operations and strengthened research productivity, retention, and outcomes. She has also held faculty and leadership appointments at Emory University and completed NIH-funded clinical research training through Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.
###
About IU School of Nursing
The IU School of Nursing is annually ranked among the top nursing schools in the nation. Founded in 1914, the school offers programs from the BSN through the post-doctorate and is composed of campuses in Bloomington, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis. The IU School of Nursing is ranked No. 13 in the nation for undergraduate nursing programs and its online MSN in Nursing Education is ranked No. 6 in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report rankings.