Tom Meuser, PhD

Tom Meuser, PhD, is an applied gerontologist, clinical psychologist licensed in Maine,
social scientist, university educator, administrator, videographer, and community volunteer. He
retired in 2024 from the University of New England, where he was the Founding Director of the
Center for Excellence in Aging & Health (2018-2024). He is presently self-employed as a geriatric
psychologist serving older adults and their families across Maine, and as a contract researcher
for the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles. This latter work focuses on medical fitness to drive a
motor vehicle and the public health impacts of state licensing policies. Tom became a faculty
associate of the UMaine Center on Aging in the summer of 2024.
Early in his career (1999-2007), he was a co-investigator and translational educator for the
Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Louis, Missouri, is one of ~30 federally funded centers around the US. Tom directed the
Gerontology Programs – graduate and undergraduate – for the University of Missouri – St. Louis
for many years (2007-2018), training students for careers in care management, long-term care
services, and ombudsman work. His research interests focus on how persons managing major
life transitions (e.g., spousal loss, functional decline in dementia, driving retirement) and
narrative gerontology (i.e., life review for harnessing and disseminating life wisdom).
Tom is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (2011-present), a Maine Commissioner
for Community Service (2022-present), a Trustee of The Park Danforth Retirement Community
(2023-present), and a longtime volunteer for the Alzheimer's Association (1998-present). Tom
lives in Portland with his wife, Christy, an Occupational Therapist, and their three rescue dogs.
Their three kids are grown and now pursuing their life dreams. Tom enjoys tennis, reading,
hiking, camping, home repair, and board games in his spare time.