Beth Meyerson, PhD

Beth Meyerson, PhD, is the Beverly Benson McCord endowed chair of nursing, a professor of nursing and family and community medicine, and the policy director for the Comprehensive Center for Pain and Addiction.  

As the Beverly Benson McCord endowed chair, Meyerson will resume her prior work from the 2021 Aging Successfully study to focus on the unique needs of aging populations at the intersection of chronic pain and opioid use disorder to inform graduate nurses in the care of the aging populations – from proper screening and diagnosis to treatment and management of pain and opioid use disorder in a variety of treatment settings. This is all for the greater purpose of furthering research and education of graduate-level nurses and physicians in the care of older adults. Her current National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded MPACT study focuses on methadone treatment retention across the lifespan, and Meyerson will soon publish with results about the impact of aging on methadone treatment retention. This project also involves the mentorship of nursing postdoctoral fellow Zhanette Coffee, PhD, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, CARN-AP, who is studying resilience of nursing prescribers in the opioid use disorder treatment space.

Meyerson's AMP study is currently working with a national group of advance practice nurses and physician prescribers to develop clinical decision support tools unique to treatment populations such as those who are aging. This study will also inform training simulations with nursing and physician trainees at the graduate levels.

With colleagues from the Comprehensive Center for Pain and Addiction and College of Nursing researchers, Meyerson will focus on unique aspects of aging at the intersection of chronic pain and addiction. This is because opioid use disorder among aging populations is often under-recognized, and treatment can be challenging given co-occurring health conditions. Primary care practitioners, especially nurses, must be trained to recognize the unique needs of aging populations in this space. This meets a critical gap in clinical training of nurses and physicians.

Meyerson is also director of the Harm Reduction Research Lab with a national, transdisciplinary faculty from eight universities and one community-based organization — some with lived/living drug use and/or drug treatment experience.