Dr. Vaiani is currently an Assistant Professor in the Institute for Medical Humanities and Director of the UTMB Clinical Ethics Consultation Service. She is involved in clinical consultations, teaching, and co-chairs UTMB Institutional Ethics Committee.

She received her doctorate in medical humanities at UTMB in Galveston in 1998 and was recognized with the Dean's Award for Academic Excellence. Her research concerned anencephalic infants and use of their organs for transplantation. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical ethics at UTMB. She earned a BSN in nursing from the University of Virginia in 1972 and a MSN in maternal-child health nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 1978.

She has extensive experience as a clinical nurse specialist and administrator and retired from the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in 1990 as a Lieutenant Colonel. While in the military, she served as consultant to the Surgeon General of the Army and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in Obstetrical nursing. Her teaching responsibilities have included numerous lectures on all aspects of maternal-child nursing and ethical issues for physicians, nurses, medical and nursing students, and other health care professionals. She is also an instructor in the American Medical Association's Program Education for Physicians in End-of-Life Care (EPEC). Her research interests include ethical issues involving infants and children and end-of-life care.

She currently serves as Past-President of the Galveston Historical Foundation, is a member of the Galveston Historical Commission, and as chair of the Ethics Commission for the City of Galveston.