Biography

Dr. Pressler has a longstanding history of teaching across academic programs and conducting research to improve survival and quality of life among patients with cardiovascular disease. Specifically, her program of research is focused on testing interventions to improve memory and quality of life and to reduce mortality among patients with heart failure. Pressler has received funding over the past 25 years to conduct studies to characterize the phenotype of chronic heart failure with cognitive dysfunction (types, severity, and frequency), determine predictors and consequences of cognitive dysfunction in heart failure, and test interventions to improve cognition, survival, and quality of life among these patients. Dr. Pressler has evaluated family caregiving outcomes among caregivers of patients with heart failure. Currently, she is a multiple principal investigator of the NINR-funded study “Cognitive Intervention to Improve Memory in Heart Failure Patients” (R01NR016116), a three-arm randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a computerized cognitive training intervention to improve memory, increase serum BDNF, and enhance quality of life among 276 patients with heart failure. Pressler’s work has been widely disseminated in scientific publications including Journal of Cardiac Failure, Heart and Lung, Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, and Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure. Dr. Pressler is the Director of the Center for Enhancing Quality of Life in Chronic Illness that has the mission of supporting researchers focused on improving quality of life in people with serious chronic conditions.