UNE’s Marilyn Gugliucci elected president of The Gerontological Society of America
Marilyn R. Gugliucci, M.A., Ph.D., professor and director of geriatrics education and research in the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Division of Geriatrics, has been elected president of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA). She will assume her role first as vice president of the organization this coming January and will assume presidential status in January 2025.
The GSA is a multidisciplinary organization devoted to research and education in all aspects of aging, also known as gerontology, including the medical, biological, psychological, and social sciences. An international organization of over 5,500 researchers, educators, and practitioners, the GSA was incorporated in New York City in 1945 and is the longest running organization of its kind.
As a member of the GSA, Gugliucci served on the committee to revamp the organization’s governance structure and worked with a consulting group to create an overarching board of directors, replacing a 45-member council, and ensuring continuity in the volunteer leadership.
In 2020, a new governance structure was implemented in which elected members serve three consecutive years in leadership positions and two of those years in mentorship roles. Following her one-year term as president, Gugliucci will become GSA board chair in 2026 (mentoring the president) and transition to the role of past president/board chair in January 2027 (mentoring the board chair).
In the GSA’s education wing, the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), Gugliucci designed a pilot project to implement GSA student chapters at colleges and universities nationally and internationally. As a result of this work, there are currently 20 chapters participating across the U.S. and five operating abroad.
Gugliucci said her work with the GSA and AGHE is dedicated to addressing ageism and supporting the wellbeing of older adults through advocacy while educating the next generation of health care workers and researchers to advance health care for this population.
“Working as a team with the GSA board and staff, as well as all GSA member groups, provides an open door to address ageism and implicit biases, advance health care, continue innovations in the science of aging, lead advocacy and policy work, and prepare our future professionals to shed light on a field that affects everyone from the time of birth,” she remarked. “Being nimble in times of change and embracing innovation is my goal, fueled by my passion, planning, outreach, inclusion, support, teamwork, and creativity. It is the light that has guided me and has kept my internal compass pointing toward my true north.”
At UNE, Gugliucci is the founding director of the U-ExCEL older adult fitness and wellness program, and she is co-chair of UNE’s Age Friendly University initiatives.
Her nationally acclaimed Learning by Living research project offers both a 48-hour hospice home immersion option — in which medical students live in pairs and conduct patient care, family support, and post-mortem care — as well as a nursing home immersion whereby medical students are “admitted” with a diagnosis to live the life of a resident for two weeks.
Gugliucci is a fellow of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education, the Gerontological Society of America, American Geriatrics Society, and the National Academy of Osteopathic Medical Educators. Additionally, she serves on several national and state boards and committees, including as a two-time mentor for the International Honor Society of Nurses/Hartford Foundation Geriatrics Nursing Leadership Academy.
She is former president of the AGHE, former chair the GSA’s Health Sciences section, and served on the inaugural GSA board of directors. In Maine, she is a founding board member and secretary of the Maine Council on Aging and serves on a three additional boards. Gugliucci is a regular speaker nationally and internationally, has authored multiple publications, and has won several state and national awards for her work.