Sept. 17, 2025 — Barbara Riegel, Ph.D., R.N., FAHA, Emerita Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor of Gerontology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, will receive the American Heart Association’s 2025 Clinical Research Prize at the Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025. The meeting, taking place Nov. 7-10, 2025, in New Orleans is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science. Dr. Riegel will be awarded during the Presidential Session on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025.
In addition to her role as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Riegel is a senior research scientist at the Center for Home Care Policy & Research at VNS Health and co-director of the International Center for Self-Care Research affiliated with Linköping University in Sweden. Her research interests focus on self-care by individuals with chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease. She began studying self-care, which she defines broadly to include treatment adherence, condition monitoring and self-management of symptoms, early in her career as a clinical researcher in a hospital setting. Since those early years, she has developed standard ways to track and measure the burden of self-care for chronic health conditions, helping to bridge the gap between patient experiences and clinical care.
“Dr. Riegel is a driving force in redefining chronic disease care through self-care science,” said Stacey E. Rosen, M.D., FAHA, the American Heart Association’s 2025-2026 volunteer president, executive director for Northwell’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health, senior vice president of Women’s Health at Northwell, the Partners Council Professor of Women’s Health and professor of cardiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. “Her pioneering research and unwavering commitment is shaping care models worldwide and improving the lives of patients and caregivers alike.”
Dr. Riegel developed the internationally recognized Self-Care of Heart Failure Index, the premier evaluation tool to comprehensively measure self-care in patients with heart failure. Through rigorous psychometric testing and continuous refinement, the index has become the global standard for measuring self-care in heart failure, widely used in research, education and interdisciplinary clinical practice and has been cited in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Riegel’s most recent research focuses on innovative strategies to support caregivers, including the development of virtual health coaching interventions aimed at promoting caregiver self-care.
Her distinguished research has been recognized with numerous awards from the Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing, including the Heart Failure Research Prize in 1998, the Katherine A. Lembright Award for lifetime achievement in cardiovascular research in 2005, and in 2009, she was named as one of the “Top 10 Cardiovascular Scientists,” a distinction awarded only once in the Council’s history. In 2015, she received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association.
Additional honors include the Distinguished Research Lectureship from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award from the University of Pennsylvania and the inaugural Nursing Research Award from the Heart Failure Society of America. In 2022, Dr. Riegel was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Medicine from Linköping University in Sweden in recognition of her pioneering work in self-care. In addition to being a fellow for the Heart Association, she is a fellow of the Heart Failure Society of America, the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nursing.
“I’m deeply honored to receive this award from the American Heart Association,” said Dr. Riegel. “I have spent my career focused on research aiming to make a true impact on those living with heart disease and other chronic illnesses. Focusing on self-care for patients and their caregivers has been my priority for many years, and I am humbled by this prestigious recognition and look forward to continuing to support the association.”
Dr. Riegel earned her doctorate in nursing with a minor in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where her earlier doctor of nursing science degree was formally converted to a Ph.D. She also completed a master of nursing degree with summa cum laude honors at UCLA, specializing as a cardiopulmonary clinical nurse specialist. She began her nursing education at the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis and received her bachelor’s degree in nursing with cum laude distinction from San Diego State University. She has served as a visiting scholar in various countries, including Australia, Italy and Sweden, and has published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles and 36 book chapters.
January 27, 2026 
