involved in the field of aging since she graduated from the first Masters in
Gerontology program at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1977 and
later completed her Ph.D. at the University of Lund, Sweden. Cheryl has worked
closely with Dr. James Birren, founding Dean of the Davis School of Gerontology
at USC, and is the Director of the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies (www.guidedautobiography.com). This is an organization dedicated to research and developing programs
to help for older adults to write their life stories. She currently lives in
southern California, teaches at USC and has taught Guided Autobiography at UCLA
and several universities, libraries, and senior and assisted living centers. Since
2009 she has taught a live, interactive Internet webinar training course to
teach students worldwide how to become Guided Autobiography instructors. She is
the co-author with Richard Campbell of the book, Writing Your Legacy: The
step-by-step guide to crafting your life story (2015).