On August 6th, 2026, Cell published a new review article co-authored by AFAR Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD, and Grantee Pankaj Kapahi, PhD, on the need to prioritize studying women in longevity research. Dr. Kapahi was the senior author of the paper.
“Studying females is not a specialized branch of aging research,” Dr. Kapahi shared in a related Buck Institute press release. “It is an opportunity to discover biological mechanisms that evolution has already developed to preserve survival under the demanding conditions of reproduction and caregiving.”
In addition to being AFAR’s Scientific Director, Dr. Austad is the 2011 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction winner and the Inaugural George M. Martin Award winner. He is the founding director of UAB’s Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, and co-director of the UAB Integrative Center for Aging Research, as well as the Co-Principal Investigator of the Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center.
Dr. Kapahi is a 2001 Glenn/AFAR Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient, a 2006 Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award recipient, and a 2011 Julie Martin Mid-Career Award in Aging Research recipient.
Read a related Buck Institute press release here.
Read “Why studying females reveals more about aging: The reproductive resilience hypothesis for the evolution of sex-specific aging” here.
For more insights on chromosomal sex differences in aging, watch AFAR’s Live Better Longer webinar with Prevention featuring AFAR Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD, and three-time AFAR Grantee Dena Dubal, MD, PhD, here.
