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Thomas M. Meuser, PhD

Director of Gerontology Program
Associate Professor of Social Work & Gerontologymeuserphoto
Office: (314) 516-5421
Fax: (314) 516-6416
Email: meusert@umsl.edu

To view a faculty video interview, click here.

Dr. Meuser joined the faculty of UM-St. Louis in August, 2007, as Director of the Gerontology Graduate Program in the School of Social Work. He is a clinical psychologist with specialized training and experience in the clinical neuropsychology of aging, particularly dementing disorders.

His teaching interests include gerontological assessment, loss and grief in aging, and interviewing older adults and life review. Dr. Meuser's current research focuses on older driver safety and mobility - important issues in our aging society. He has also published on grief and loss issues in aging and dementia, including a widely used measure called the Caregiver Grief Inventory. He has received grant funding from the Alzheimer's Disease Centers Program of the National Institutes of Aging, the Alzheimer's Association, the State of Missouri's Alzheimer's Disease & Related Disorders Research Program, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. His work has been published in various journals, including OMEGA: Journal of Death & Dying, Death Studies, The Gerontologist, The American Family Physician, Social Work in Health Care, Educational Gerontology: An International Journal, and Alzheimer's Disease & Associated Disorders.

From 1999-2007, Dr. Meuser was a research track faculty member in the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He was promoted to Associate Professor there in 2006. He served as a research investigator and Director of Education and Rural Outreach for the Washington University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC), one of 29 centers in the United States funded through the Alzheimer's Disease Centers Program, National Institute on Aging. His work at the ADRC involved developing, coordinating and otherwise presenting educational programs on cognitive aging and dementia for student, professional and community audiences. Dr. Meuser was a Clinical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine from 1998-1999.

Visit the newly created Life Review site at http://www.umsl.edu/~meusert/LifeReview for a full description of the work being done in documenting Life Review interviewing and videography. Note that the Video Segment portion of the site is password-protected; the user name and password are available directly from Dr. Meuser at meusert@umsl.edu.

Visit the newly created Driving Research site at http://www.umsl.edu/~meusert/Driving/Stakeholder.html for a full description of the work and related documents of SCODER, the St. Louis Consortium for Older Driver Education & Research.

Journal Publications and Abstracts

Professional Interests:

  • Fitness to Drive in Aging
  • Medical Review in Driver Licensing
  • Loss & Grief in Aging
  • Program Development & Evaluation
  • Videography & Video Production
Teaching Interests:
  • Gerontological Assessment
  • Dying, Grief & Death in Older Adulthood
  • Interviewing Older Adults & Life Review

Education:

  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, UM-St. Louis, 1997
  • MS, Clinical Psychology, UM-St. Louis, 1992
  • BA, Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, 1986

Courses:

FS2009

  • Gerontology/SW 5620 - Dying, Grief and Death in Older Adulthood
  • Gerontology 6495 - Practicum in Gerontology
  • Gerontology 6496 - Advanced Practicum in Gerontology