Meeks Chosen as Next Editor of The Gerontologist
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For Immediate Release |
Contact: Todd Kluss |
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has named Suzanne Meeks, PhD, FGSA, of the University of Louisville as the editor-in-chief of The Gerontologist, effective January 2019.
“It is a great honor to be named the editor-in-chief of The Gerontologist. Simply put, I love this journal!” Meeks said. “Its multidisciplinary and applied emphases pull together contemporary science and thought to advance the field of aging studies in creative new ways.”
Meeks also commended the work of the outgoing editor-in-chief, Rachel Pruchno, PhD, FGSA, and said she hopes to continue building on Pruchno’s achievements.
“My vision is for The Gerontologist to provide excellent service to authors while demanding rigor and good writing,” Meeks added. “As a top journal on the study of aging, and as the primary GSA journal that attracts articles from across the disciplines of GSA members, The Gerontologist should disseminate cutting-edge scholarship worldwide to influence practice and policy. It should make aging scholarship accessible to promote well-being in late life.”
The Gerontologist is published by Oxford Journals on behalf of GSA. Launched in 1961, this bimonthly, peer-reviewed publication provides a multidisciplinary perspective on human aging by publishing research and analysis on applied social issues. It informs the broad community of disciplines and professions involved in understanding the aging process and providing care to older people.
The journal, with an all-time high impact factor of 4.078, is currently ranked third in the gerontology category of Journal Citation Reports: Social Sciences Edition.
GSA Publications Committee Chair Margie Lachman, PhD, FGSA, who also spoke highly of Pruchno, said GSA is fortunate that Meeks will succeed her in the role of editor-in-chief, given the strong vision and innovative ideas that Meeks has for the future of the journal.
“Dr. Meeks, who has made outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology especially in the areas of mental health and aging, is exceptionally well qualified for this position and the ideal person to assume editorship of The Gerontologist at this time of unprecedented upward momentum,” Lachman said.
Meeks is a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville, where she began as an assistant professor in 1987. She has served as department chair since 2009. Her research interests have broadly covered psychopathology and well-being in late life, and she has spent much of the last decade developing and refining an intervention for depression in nursing home residents called BE-ACTIV.
Her work has been published in journals such as Psychology and Aging, The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Aging and Mental Health, and The Gerontologist. She has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Kindred Foundation, and most recently from the National Endowment for the Arts to study well-being among older theater audiences.
Meeks teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to clinical psychology and aging. She was the 2008 president of the Society of Clinical Geropsychology, and she is a member of American Psychological Association (Divisions 12 and 20), Psychologists in Long-Term Care, and the Kentucky Psychological Association. She is a GSA fellow, which represents the highest category of membership within the Society.
Among her achievements, Meeks earned the 2012 Psychologists in Long-Term Care Award for Outstanding Contributions to Psychology in Long-Term Care. She was previously an associate editor (intervention research) for The Gerontologist, has served on the editorial board of Clinical Gerontologist, and has been a frequent grant reviewer for the National Institute of Mental Health.
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The Gerontologist is a peer-reviewed publication of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and an educational unit, the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education.
