On January 8th, 2025, The New York Times published an article focusing on exceptional longevity and SuperAgers. The article features insights from AFAR SuperAgers Family StudyPrincipal Investigator Sofiya Milman, MD, MS, as well as study Co-Investigators Tom Perls, MD, MPH, and Nir Barzilai, MD.
The experts highlighted factors that could influence SuperAgers’ longevity, emphasizing that while genetics have a significant impact on longevity, lifestyle interventions, such as exercise and social connectivity, can help to extend healthspan and delay age-related diseases.
The SuperAgers Family Study, led by AFAR in collaboration with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Boston University School of Medicine, aims to collect data from a large group of individuals who have lived to age 95 or more. The Study's goal is to understand and uncover the biological factors contributing to healthy aging and exceptional longevity shared among SuperAgers and their families.
Learn more and enroll in the SuperAgers Family Study here.
Dr. Barzilai is a 1997 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging scholar and 1994 AFAR Research Grant recipient, as well as the Co-Investigator of the AFAR SuperAgers Family Study, an AFAR Board Member. He also directs the Institute for Aging Research at the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research, and the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Dr. Milman is a 2012 AFAR Postdoctoral Fellow and a 2015 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging scholar. She is the Director of Human Longevity Studies at the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicineas well as the Principal Investigator of the AFAR SuperAgers Family Study.
Dr. Perls is a 1998 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award recipient. He is the Founder and Director of the New England Centenarian Study and a Professor of Medicine at Boston University’s School of Medicine as well as the Co-Investigator of the AFAR SuperAgers Family Study.
Read the article “What Matters More for Longevity: Genes or Lifestyle?” here.
