The Center on Aging and Institute of Medicine present: Clinicians’ Role in Assessing Driving Fitness with Dr. KJ Hansmann and Dr. Tom Meuser. State driver licensing officials rely on the expertise of physicians and other clinical health professionals to assess medical fitness to drive. Certain health and functional conditions can impact driving fitness – temporarily (e.g., joint replacement, a minor stroke) or permanently (e.g., dementia, macular degeneration). In this presentation, Dr. Hansmann, a family physician, will detail her journey to foster inclusive, person-centered, and evidenced-based approaches to driving evaluation and what follows. Balancing a patient’s health and daily needs with the legal-ethical requirements of driving can be challenging, but there’s always room for dialogue and reasoned compromise. Participants will learn proven ways to engage patients and families around questions of driving fitness.
Our Speakers:
Dr. KJ Hansmann: KJ Hansmann, MD, MPH, PhD (she/they) joined the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health in 2024 as a family medicine doctor and health services researcher. Her research focuses on leveraging our understanding of social determinants of health to design and implement clinical care interventions that promote health equity across the life course. Through postdoctoral research training after completing her clinical residency in family medicine at University of Wisconsin, she developed skills in multivariable statistical modeling and health equity research as well as content expertise in driving cessation. Dr. Hansmann’s long-term research goal is to investigate and implement interventions that help older adults navigate complex life transitions with their caregivers in the context of their social determinants of health. Her current research focuses on clinical care pathways that can help older adults with dementia and their caregivers navigate transitions to stopping driving.
Dr. Tom Meuser: Tom Meuser is a clinical psychologist, applied gerontologist, and social scientist based in Portland, Maine. He moved here in 2018 from Missouri to serve as the Founding Director for the University of New England Center for Excellence in Aging & Health. He retired from this role in 2024 and is now self-employed as a geriatric neuropsychologist (https://geropsychmaine.com/) and a researcher-educator for both the Maine Bureaus of Motor Vehicles and Highway Safety. Tom led the team which developed Missouri’s approach to the medical evaluation of at-risk drivers in 2009. He was also the program evaluator for the AMA’s Older Drivers Project (which continues now through AGS). His 2025 speaking tour in Maine focuses on informing and empowering older adults, as well as the clinical providers who serve them, to make reasoned decisions on driving mobility. Maine’s regulations are an important focus too. He can be reached at tom.meuser@maine.gov.
Join us on November 12th, 2025 at 12:00 PM for this virtual discussion!
This event is FREE to attend, however REGISTRATION is required.