Speakers, Panelists, & Moderators (A-Z)

Academic and industry pioneers will join us to discuss and support our discussions around biomarkers of aging.

  • Nir Barzilai, MD

    Nir Barzilai, MD

    Director of The Einstein Institute for Aging Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

    Dr. Barzilai is a Chaired Professor of Medicine and Genetics as well as the Director of The Einstein Institute for Aging Research, the largest center in the world to study the Biology of Aging. He leads the TAME (Targeting/Taming Aging with Metformin) multi-central study to prove the concept that multi-morbidities of aging can be delayed in humans and to change the FDA indications to allow for next generation interventions.

  • Daniel Belsky, PhD

    Daniel Belsky, PhD

    Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

    Dr. Belsky researches how genes and environments intersect to shape health across life course, with the goal of promoting positive development in early life, extending healthspan, and reducing social inequalities in aging. He has published extensively on aging and health in scientific journals and is recognized for developing the Pace of Aging method and the DunedinPoAm and DunedinPACE aging clocks.

  • Joe Betts-LaCroix, PhD

    Joe Betts-LaCroix, PhD

    CEO, Retro Biosciences

    Dr. Betts-LaCroix is the CEO of Retro Biosciences, which uses high-throughput, high-dimensional approaches to develop therapies for diseases driven by the biology of aging. His academic background spans Harvard, MIT, and Caltech and Dr. Betts has invented over 100 patents and applications, found two prior companies with a combined 185 employees, spent 2 years as a part-time partner at Y Combinator, invested in and advised numerous biotechs, and published a Science paper in biophysics.

  •  Brian Chen, PhD, MPH

    Brian Chen, PhD, MPH

    UC San Diego, Former CSO, FOXO Technologies

    Dr. Chen was formerly the Chief Science Officer at FOXO Technologies, a company that uses blood and saliva-based epigenetic technology to assess human health, wellness, disease, and aging. He holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UCLA and is a faculty member of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UCSD. His work focuses on the intersection of health and clinical research, basic science, bioinformatics, and machine learning to discover and validate biomarkers. Dr. Chen has co-authored numerous research papers on mathematical models of aging rates.

  • Michelle Chen, PhD

    Michelle Chen, PhD

    Chief Business Officer, Insilico Medicine

    Dr. Chen is an expert in biomarker discovery and commercialization. She has extensive experience of applying genomics, genetics and AI technologies to develop diagnostic tests, identify biomarkers and discover drug candidates for age related diseases. Prior to Insilico, she worked at BioMarin, Roche, Merck, Agilent and Applied Biosystems in leadership roles ranging from R&D, business development and product marketing.

  • Alan	Cohen, PhD

    Alan Cohen, PhD

    Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences & Butler Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University

    Dr. Cohen specializes in elucidating integrative biological processes and identifying reliable biomarkers of aging, health, and system integrity. Through the analysis of epidemiological data, his research contributes to a deeper understanding of health, aging, and longevity at multiple levels.

  • Steven R. Cummings, MD

    Steven R. Cummings, MD

    Director, San Francisco Coordinating Center

    Dr. Cummings is an internationally recognized expert on the epidemiology of osteoporosis, women's health, and aging. He has over 20 years of experience in the design and execution of multicenter observational studies and clinical trials.

  • Peter Fedichev, PhD

    Peter Fedichev, PhD

    CEO, GERO.ai

    Dr. Fedichev is an entrepreneur and scientist with over 20 years of experience in academic research and biotech business. He co-founded three biotech companies: Quantum Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery company, and Gero, a longevity startup and GlyNeura, a biotech-pharma company aiming to cure Neurodegenerative Diseases. His scientific background lies in the field of condensed matter physics, biophysics and bioinformatics.

  • Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD

    Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD

    Scientific Director, National Institute on Aging

    Dr. Ferrucci conducts research on the pathways of physical and cognitive decline in older individuals, with a focus on inflammation, oxidative stress, and molecular damage. His influential work has led to notable progress in preventing and treating age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.

  • Alexander (Zan) Fleming, MD

    Alexander (Zan) Fleming, MD

    Founder and Executive Chairman, Kinexum

    Dr. Fleming, a prominent figure in endocrinology, coined the term Metabesity to encompass the metabolic commonalities among cancer, chronic diseases, and aging. With notable achievements at the FDA and extensive involvement in biomarker initiatives and regulatory discussions, he is dedicated to advancing healthspan products and promoting healthy aging through conferences like the Targeting Healthy Longevity Conference.

  • Kristen Fortney, PhD

    Kristen Fortney, PhD

    CEO and Co-founder, BioAge

    Dr. Fortney is developing a pipeline of treatments to extend healthy lifespan by targeting the molecular causes of aging. Her company, BioAge, uses its discovery platform, which combines quantitative analysis of proprietary longitudinal human samples with detailed health records tracking individuals over the lifespan, to map out the key molecular pathways that impact healthy human aging. By targeting these pathways with a large and mechanistically diverse portfolio of drugs, BioAge will unlock opportunities to treat or even prevent these diseases in entirely new ways.

  • David Furman, PhD

    David Furman, PhD

    Associate Professor & Director, Buck Institute & Stanford 1,000 Immunomes

    Dr. Furman, an academic and entrepreneur, specializes in advanced statistics, AI, and machine learning for translational medicine. As the Director of the Stanford 1,000 Immunomes Project and an Associate Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, his research explores the immune system's involvement in aging and age-related diseases, with a particular focus on biomarkers of aging.

  • Vadim Gladyshev, PhD

    Vadim Gladyshev, PhD

    Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School & Director, Center for Redox Medicine at Brigham and Women's

    Dr. Gladyshev, a renowned Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Redox Medicine at Brigham and Women's, researches aging, lifespan control, and rejuvenation. His focus is on biomarkers of longevity and biological age, such as aging clocks, epigenetic signatures, and the human selenoproteome, revealing insights into aging mechanisms and the dynamic nature of biological aging under varying stress conditions.

  • Vera Gorbunova, PhD

    Vera Gorbunova, PhD

    Professor of Biology, University of Rochester & Co-Director, Rochester Aging Research Center

    Dr. Gorbunova's research focuses on the mechanisms of longevity and genome stability as well as on the understanding of exceptionally long-lived mammals. Dr. Gorbunova pioneered the comparative biology approach to study aging. She was involved in developing clocks for naked mole rats and a universal clock for mammals. Dr. Gorbunaova currently investigates the role of Sirtuin proteins in maintaining genome and epigenome stability as well as the role of genomic instability and transposable elements in aging and disease. Her current focus is on development of affordable epigenetic clocks for humans.

  • Albert Higgins-Chen, MD, PhD

    Albert Higgins-Chen, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Department of Pathology at Yale University

    Dr. Higgins-Chen’s laboratory is developing new methods for constructing aging biomarkers that 1) are useful specifically for longitudinal and intervention studies and 2) complement clinical knowledge and data. During his MD/PhD training at the University of Michigan, he worked with C. elegans identifying genes regulating aging and longevity. During his clinical psychiatry residency training at Yale University, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Morgan Levine as a postdoctoral fellow. He developed a method to train aging biomarkers with high test-retest reliability and longitudinal performance.

  • Steve Horvath, PhD

    Steve Horvath, PhD

    Principal Investigator, Altos Labs

    Dr. Horvath specializes in epigenetic biomarkers of aging. His pioneering work includes creating the first saliva epigenetic clock, the pan-tissue Horvath clock, and a universal clock for mammals. With numerous accolades and recognition, he is consistently ranked among the world's most influential scientific researchers.

  • Lee Hood, MD, PhD

    Lee Hood, MD, PhD

    CEO, Phenome Health & Professor, The Buck Institute for Aging Research

    Dr. Hood pioneered the concept of P4 (Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory) Medicine, and has founded 17 successful biotechnology companies, including Amgen & Applied Biosystems. He also co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology and established the non-profit Phenome Health. His company Arivale studied a population of 5,000 individuals with genome/phenome analyses over 4 years, which produced biomarkers for healthy aging and scientific wellness as well as metabolic and gut-microbiome health.

  • Jamie Justice, PhD

    Jamie Justice, PhD

    Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Section on Gerontology and Geriatrics, Wake Forest School of Medicine

    Dr. Justice's research training spans various disciplines, species, and intervention strategies. Her current research includes the both the clinical trial Targeting Aging with MEtformin (TAME), which is designed to facilitate regulatory approval for metformin in order to slow biological aging, as well as investigating the therapeutic potential of targeting the biologic aging hallmark of cellular senescence in humans.

  • Douglas P. Kiel, MD, MPH

    Douglas P. Kiel, MD, MPH

    Director, Muscoskeletal Research Center Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife

    Dr. Kiel's research focuses on the epidemiology of osteoporosis and related fractures, including lifestyle factors, biomarkers, and genetic factors. He leads the Framingham Osteoporosis Study, and serves in leadership roles for many organizations including the NIH, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, National Osteoporosis Foundation, and the Joint Commission.

  • Stephen Kritchevsky, PhD

    Stephen Kritchevsky, PhD

    Director of the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention

    Dr. Kritchesky is Professor of Medicine and Translational Science at Wake Forest School of Medicine where he serves as Director of the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention, and Wake Forest Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. He is also an Associate Director of the Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

  • George Kuchel, MD

    George Kuchel, MD

    Professor of Medicine, Travelers Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology, and Director of the UConn Center on Aging at UConn Health

    Dr. Kuchel's work focuses on Precision Gerontology and Geroscience. This effort seeks to enhance function and independence in older adults by targeting heterogeneity in aging-related declines involving host defense, mobility, cognition and bladder control. Dr Kuchel leads the UConn Older Americans Independence Pepper Center, the NIA Geroscience Education and Training Network, and the KAPP-Sen NIH Common Fund Cellular Senescence Tissue Mapping Center. Dr Kuchel also serves as MPI of the NIA Translational Geroscience Network.

  • Jessica Lasky-Su, PhD

    Jessica Lasky-Su, PhD

    Associated Professor, Harvard University

    Dr. Lasky-Su has been a leader in applying genetics, epigenetics, metabolomics research to epidemiology, covering a range of chronic diseases spanning the entire life course. Much of this work has prompted her to study aging while using “integrative metabolomics” - the integration other multiple omics with using a metabolomic-centric perspective to enable clinical understanding. Currently, Dr. Lasky-Su is applying approaches to multi-omic integration to develop aging biomarkers in the Mass General Brigham (MGB-Biobank), where she has generated a large, prospective, biobank cohort with epigenetic, metabolomic, proteomic, and miRNA data.

  • Nathan LeBrasseur, PT, PhD

    Nathan LeBrasseur, PT, PhD

    Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic / Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging / Co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research

    Dr. LeBrasseur's research focuses on strategies to enhance physical function, metabolism, and resilience in aging and disease, with a particular emphasis on cellular senescence. His work emphasizes the importance of senescence biomarkers in clinical practice and research. Dr. LeBrasseur is the recipient of prestigious awards in aging research and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

  • Andrea Maier, MD, PhD

    Andrea Maier, MD, PhD

    Director, Centre for Healthy Longevity / Oon Chiew Seng Professor at the National University of Singapore & Professor of Gerontology at VU University Amsterdam

    Dr. Maier's research focuses on biological age diagnostics and interventions in humans, utilizing cohort studies and randomized controlled trials testing geroprotectors. She launched the evidence-based Longevity Clinic Chi Longevity February 2023 in Singapore and will open a healthy longevity clinic in the publicly funded Alexandra hospital, Singapore, in August 2023.

  • Mahdi Moqri, PhD MBA

    Mahdi Moqri, PhD MBA

    Harvard & Stanford, The Biomakers of Aging Consortium

    Dr. Moqri, a joint Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Gladyshev Lab and Stanford University’s Snyder Lab, specializes in researching epigenetic and multi-omics biomarkers of aging. Additionally, he plays a key role in leading the Executive Committee of the Biomarkers of Aging Consortium, dedicated to establishing robust biomarkers for longevity interventions.

  • Birgit Schilling, PhD

    Birgit Schilling, PhD

    Professor & Director of the Mass Spectrometry Core, Buck Institute for Research on Aging

    Dr. Schilling specializes in biomarkers of aging through proteome analysis. Her research examines protein modifications and their relevance to aging and age-related diseases, employing advanced analytical technologies to gain insights into fundamental aging biology and translational research.

  • Vittorio Sebastiano, PhD

    Vittorio Sebastiano, PhD

    Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University / Co-Founder, Turn Biotechnologies

    Dr. Sebastiano pioneers cellular reprogramming to reverse aging in human cells and tissues. His research explores leveraging reproduction and embryonic development principles for anti-aging technologies, while leading research at Turn Biotechnologies for age-related disease therapies through transient cell reprogramming.

  • Eline Slagboom, PhD

    Eline Slagboom, PhD

    Prof. Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University

    Dr. Slagboom is professor of molecular epidemiology. She is head of the section of Molecular Epidemiology within the department of Biomedical Data Sciences. She is chair of the LUMC Medical Research Profile on Aging and of the DUSRA - Dutch Society for Research on Aging. Slagboom is PI of the Leiden Longevity Study and Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologn, Germany. She is board member of BBMRI-NL (Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure) steering national studies in metabolomics. Slagboom is member of the organising committee of various prestigious international conferences (such as the Welcome Trust, UK).

  • Michael Snyder, PhD

    Michael Snyder, PhD

    Stanford B. Ascherman Professor and Chair of Genetics, Stanford University

    Dr. Snyder is a renowned leader in functional genomics and proteomics. His lab pioneers integrative personal -omics profiling (iPOP) using cutting-edge technologies to assess disease risk and monitor personalized medicine. Additionally, Dr. Snyder has founded multiple companies, authored a book on genomics and personalized medicine, and serves on several company boards.

  • Eric Verdin, MD

    Eric Verdin, MD

    President & CEO, Buck Institute for Research Aging, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

    Dr. Verdin is a leader in the field of aging research, with a particular focus on the role of metabolism and chromatin regulation in aging and age-associated diseases. Dr. Verdin's lab at the Buck Institute studies the relationship between aging and the immune system, and how immune aging is regulated by nutrition.

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