Lepore chosen to lead Public Policy & Aging Report

(Press-News.org) The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has named Michael Lepore, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst as the next editor-in-chief of the journal Public Policy & Aging Report, effective January 2024.

“I am honored to serve as editor-in-chief of Public Policy & Aging Report, which for nearly 30 years has provided non-partisan analyses of aging-related policy issues,” Lepore said. “This venerable journal has been a mainstay of my training and professional development, and I am committed to further advancing its impact and diversifying its authorship in alignment with GSA’s commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Public Policy & Aging Report — published quarterly by Oxford Journals on behalf of GSA and its nonpartisan public policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society — explores policy issues generated by the aging of American society. Each thematic issue is designed to stimulate debate, highlight emerging concerns, and propose alternative policy options. The audience consists of decision makers in the public and private sectors, advisors and staff to those decision makers, program administrators, researchers, students, and the interested public. Authors are drawn from the leadership ranks of the policy, practice, and research communities.

“It is my great pleasure to welcome Dr. Lepore. His experience serving as a nurse aide in a dementia care unit and extensive research in the field of gerontology and health policy will be an asset to the journal, identifying impactful research and moving the field forward,” said Elham Mahmoudi, PhD, the chair of GSA’s Program, Publications, and Products Committee. “His leadership in research and policy will strengthen the journal to be an outstanding resource for scientists and policymakers across the globe.”

Lepore was recently appointed as the associate dean for research for the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at the UMass Amherst. His research focuses on improving dementia care and residential long-term care.

Immediately prior to joining the UMass Amherst, he was a member of the University of Maryland School of Nursing faculty, where he served as co-director of the Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research, and as a professor in the Department of Organizational Systems and Adult Health. He was also a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine as well as the associate director for the Community and Collaboration Core of the University of Maryland Baltimore’s Institute for Clinical Translational Research.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy from Assumption University, and his master’s and doctorate in sociology from Georgia State University, Lepore completed his postdoctoral training in the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research at Brown University. For the following 15 years, he remained an adjunct research faculty at Brown while also advancing research focused on improving dementia care and residential long-term care through grants and contracts from many government sponsors, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Administration for Community Living/Administration on Aging, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission. His career has also included service and leadership on committees for the Alzheimer’s Association, American Public Health Association, and GSA.

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Public Policy & Aging Report is a 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 includes a nonpartisan public policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and GSA is also home to the National Center to Reframe Aging and the National Coordinating Center for the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research.

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