AFAR in the News: Grantees and Board Members on Geroscience and Healthspan in the New York Post
On May 24th the New York Post featured Board Members Nir Barzilai, MD (Deputy Scientific Director), James Kirkland, MD, PhD, and David Sinclair, PhD, as well as two-time Grantee, Matt Kaeberlein, PhD, in the article, “Scientists are closer than ever to creating the Fountain of Youth.”
Far from promising a fountain of youth, AFAR experts explained the field of geroscience – the study of the relationship between aging and disease – and discussed research moving toward clinical trials, including, The Dog Aging Project and the Targeting Aging with Metformin, TAME trial.
AFAR’s work in managing the TAME project was noted.
“What people need to realize is if we focus exclusively on diseases, [we’re] going to keep finding another one… Age-related chronic diseases cluster within individuals. If you get one, the next one is right around the corner,” Kirkland shared.
Dr. Sinclair also emphasized the goal of aging research to extend healthspan, our years in optimal health as we age: “We’re not keeping people in nursing homes longer, we’re keeping them out of nursing homes longer.”
For more on geroscience, explore the topics and speakers at the recent Disease Drivers of Aging: 2016 Advances in Geroscience Summit, that AFAR co-hosted here.