Marilyn Gugliucci honored by Maine Council on Aging for ‘lasting legacy’

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 awarded the Lasting Legacy Award from the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA).

The annual award recognizes and celebrates the sustained leadership of people whose commitment, ideals, and actions throughout their careers have brought about lasting and positive change to the lives of older Mainers. Gugliucci accepted the award at MCOA’s CHANGE AGEnt Summit on Sept. 25 at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester.

Gugliucci is a founding board member of the MCOA (2022) whose innovative work is dedicated to addressing ageism and supporting the well-being of older adults through advocacy while educating the next generation of health care workers and researchers.

“Our annual awards shine a spotlight on Maine leaders who are quietly dedicating part or all of their careers to making Maine a healthier, safer, more inclusive place to live and work for older Mainers,” said Jess Maurer, executive director of the Maine Council on Aging. “These honorees have had an impressive impact on the lives of older Maines, and we honor them to ensure Maine people know about their important work and leadership.” 

Gugliucci is an innovative and pioneering Maine leader who has been recognized nationally and internationally for her work. For three decades, she has inspired countless health professional students to change their ideas about aging and provide older-person informed care.  She has developed and launched highly effective immersion and applied learning programs that have guided so many students into the field of geriatrics.  

As chair of the Maine Geriatrics Conference, Gugliucci also integrated advocacy into her work, making advocates and health professionals more effective.

“When I first heard Jess Maurer present the idea of forming the Maine Council on Aging in 2011, I was quite aware that I have not had a mentor in aging policy or advocacy and was eager to learn — so much so that I volunteered to be a founding board member and fill the role of MCOA’s secretary, a position that I held for 11 years,” Gugliucci said. “Working with Jess and MCOA advanced my professional development and knowledge about policy and advocacy, which is critically important in the field of aging.”   

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 (AGHE), the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), 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. Gugliucci is a regular speaker nationally and internationally, has authored multiple publications, and has won several state and national awards for her work.

She was recently elected president of the GSA and will assume her role in January 2025.

As current GSA vice president — and continuing through her presidency — Gugliucci will be chairing a special project funded by AARP with GSA to address ageism in health care nationally, starting with curriculum development for health professions programs. A national advisory board is being assembled with a workgroup being formed in January.

The Maine Council on Aging is a broad, multidisciplinary network of more than 135 organizations, businesses, municipalities, and older Mainers working to ensure all can live healthy, engaged, and secure lives in their homes and community settings.