Morgan State University

Faculty Member, Social Work

Associate Professor and Gerontology Coordinator

School of Social Work

About

Dr. Gaynell M. Simpson is an Associate Professor and Gerontology Coordinator at Morgan State University, School of Social Work. She obtained her bachelor and master in social work from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Her research interest in gerontological research and scholarship evolved from her dissertation, Availability of Social Support Resources among African American Grandmother Caregivers, completed at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in December, 2002. Qualitative findings, published in several referred journals, revealed most grandmothers were providing additional care for a dependent elder and/or disabled adult child. Dr. Simpson is a recent recipient of the John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar Award (2009-2011), which provides mentorship and support, to extend her body of work by utilizing The Black Rural and Urban Caregivers Mental Health Functioning Study (funded by National Institute on Aging and the Office of Research for Women’s Health through grant R01 AG15962) to examine the influence of social resources on health of African American grandmothers engaged in multiple caregiving roles. 

Her commitment and call to gerontological leadership is evident by her active participation in three, competitive, training Institutes on Aging and research, funded by National Institute on Aging and/or National Institute of Health: The College of St. Scholastica, Institute on Aging and Social Work Research (2008); Summer Training Workshop on African American Aging Research (2008); Summer Institute on Aging at the National Institute of Health / National Institute of Aging (2007). Her leadership skills are observant in current positions as Chair of the Multidisciplinary Urban Gerontology Advisory Board and Gerontology Coordinator of the Biennial Gerontology Conference at Morgan State University. In addition, Dr. Simpson has been involved in various clinical and community-based research projects focusing on older, African American caregivers and mental health. Her community-based, participatory activities include working with the Baltimore City Commission on Aging & Retirement Education (CARE) on Senior Health Education Forum.

For the past several years she has extensively contributed to the body of gerontological literature through publications in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work; African American Research Perspectives; American Journal of Public Health; Journal of Black Studies; Human Behavior in the Social Environment;  Black Women, Gender & Families: A Black Women’s Studies Journal; Health and Social Work; and Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved: Health Disparities Critical Issues.  Dr. Simpson has presented her work at multiple regional, national and international conferences, which include invited, peer reviewed, keynote and panelist on diverse aging content at the local, state, national and international level.

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