Physical Change and Aging

Sue V. Saxon, PhD, is professor emeritus at the School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida. She received her PhD in developmental psychology and counseling from Florida State University and pursued additional graduate work in physiological psychology at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Saxon was a research psychologist for the National Institutes of Health and for the Laboratory of Perinatal Physiology at the University of Puerto Rico Medical School, before joining the faculty in behavioral sciences at the University of South Florida. As a charter faculty member in the Aging Studies program, she has developed and taught numerous courses in aging as well as presented workshops, given in-service training, and authored a number of books and book chapters on aging. She has been designated a Gerontological Pioneer for outstanding achievement and exemplary contributions to the field of gerontology by the Southern Gerontological Society. Mary Jean Etten, EdD, GNP, CMP, FT, has been tenured full professor in the College of Nursing at St. Petersburg College, where she taught nursing, gerontology, and thanatology and developed an innovative curriculum teaching hospice care to nurses. She is currently an adjunct lecturer in thanatology in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. Dr. Etten received her doctoral degree in education from Nova Southeastern University and master's degrees in gerontology, counseling, and nursing from the University of South Florida. Dr. Etten is also a gerontological nurse practitioner. She is a fellow in thanatology and is board certified as a music practitioner. She has authored several books and manuals, as well as journal articles. She was a founder of Suncoast Hospice in 1978 and has remained on its boards for more than 35 years. In 2012 a building at Suncoast Hospice was dedicated in her honor. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tampa Bay Business Journal in 2013. Elizabeth A. Perkins, PhD, RNMH, FAAIDD, is a research assistant professor and associate director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities - a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities - at the University of South Florida (USF). She has a PhD in aging studies from the School of Aging Studies at USF. Dr. Perkins is also an RNMH (a registered nurse in the field of developmental disabilities) who trained at the Hereford and Worcestershire College of Nursing and Midwifery in England. She has published numerous journal articles and was recently the guest editor of the Special Issue on Aging and End-of-Life for the American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Perkins is a fellow and current member of the Board of Directors of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), and has previously served as the Gerontology Division president for AAIDD and co-convener of the Special Interest Group on Lifelong Disabilities for the Gerontological Society of America.

Chapter 1 - Perspectives On Aging; Chapter 2 - Skin, Hair, And Nails; Chapter 3 - Musculoskeletal System; Chapter 4 - Nervous System; Chapter 5 - Sensory Systems.