Profiles in Social Work

Service to Country, Service to Older Adults
Michael Parker, DSW

As a trained social worker and career Army man, Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Michael Parker, DSW, researched and led drug and alcohol programs. During the Gulf War, he was on an overseas assignment when his father died, and the experience changed the coordinates of his career path.

"I knew that many of my brothers and sisters in uniform," he recalls, "struggled with issues related to aging parents. It was an issue that seemed to be ignored by the military."

Just before the war, Dr. Parker, winner of the Order of Military Medical Merit and the Legion of Merit, had been selected for long-term civilian training at the prestigious Walter Reed Medical Center to continue drug and alcohol studies. Instead, he requested the University of Michigan's National Institute of Aging post-doctoral program in aging research. "My commanding general was sympathetic," he says, "because he was facing aging parent issues at the time, so I was given clearance after Desert Storm."

"My life," says Dr. Parker, "has not been the same."

Following his training, Parker, who had completed his Doctorate in Social Work at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, asked to be transferred to Fort McClellan, located near Birmingham and the University of Alabama Medical School. While still on active duty, he became Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at UAB School of Medicine.

In 1998, Dr. Parker retired from the service to accept a full-time faculty appointment at the University of Alabama in the School of Social Work, maintaining his appointment with the UAB School of Medicine. "I felt a real call to devote the balance of my life with seniors," he says. "My grandmother helped raise me, and I have been blessed with many senior friends who have served as mentors to me. After 20 years on active duty, despite promotion opportunities, I felt a rather clear calling in gerontology."

Last year, this calling was affirmed when he was chosen as a member of the second cohort of Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars, and, this year, he was selected by the students of Phi Alpha (Social Work honorary) at the University of Alabama as the recipient of the Frank R. Egan Award for teaching and service excellence. His Hartford research project is developing and evaluating intervention models that seek to prepare adult children to care for their aging parents. Using a sample of military officers who live long distances from their mothers and fathers, Dr. Parker hopes to enhance officer confidence and reduce stress with interventions that improve their understanding of parent care issues and resources.

In addition to his Hartford research, Dr. Parker serves as a Primary Investigator for a Department of Defense-funded study with senior military leaders related to long distance parent care, health promotion, successful aging and spirituality. He is a co-investigator on a NIA longitudinal study of mobility and health among seniors in Alabama. He also acts as a consultant to ecumenical communities and church groups in the planning and execution of faith-based conferences that foster academic, medical and religious partnerships and promote successful aging.

"My selection as a Hartford Scholar," he says, "has been a wonderful affirmation. My fellow Scholars have served as an encouragement and a source of support as we look forward to our work enhancing the lives of older adults."