On April 21st, 2025, USA Today featured insights from AFAR Irving S. Wright Award winner S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, and AFAR SuperAgers Family Study Co-Investigator Tom Perls, MD, MPH, on exceptional longevity and factors that could influence it, such as genetics and exercise. Both experts highlighted that while genetics have a significant impact on longevity, lifestyle interventions can help to extend healthspan and delay age-related diseases.
Dr. Olshansky is the 2016 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction winner, a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Lapetus Solutions, Inc.
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, “Jeannie Rice, 77, is running the Boston Marathon and shattering records. What's her secret?” here.
Hear more insights on the benefits of exercise in our Live Better Longer webinar, “Muscle Physiology and Healthy Aging,” here.
