The American Heart Association (AHA) named Barbara Riegel, professor of nursing, the Edith Clemmer Steinbright Chair of Gerontology and director of the Biobehavioral Research Center at Penn, a 2015 Distinguished Scientist. Dr. Riegel received this honor during the opening meeting of the AHA Scientific Sessions in November. The AHA’s Distinguished Scientists are a prominent group of scientists and clinicians whose work has importantly advanced the understanding of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Dr. Riegel is an established nurse scientist studying adults with cardiovascular disease. Her primary research interest is self-care of older adults with chronic heart failure. Recently her interests have expanded to include multi-morbidity, a common phenomenon in adults with heart failure. She focuses her research on the self-care issues of medication adherence and decision-making in response to symptoms. Her findings have demonstrated that poor medication adherence is a primary contributor to hospitalization in heart failure, identified intentional and unintentional factors associated with poor medication adherence, and developed an approach to improving medication adherence in these patients.