On April 28, 2021, The New York Times Magazine featured insights and research from several AFAR Board members, including Steven Austad, PhD, James L. Kirkland, MD, S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, and David Sinclair, PhD, in a special issue on The Secrets of Longevity about the past, present, and future of the human lifespan.
Written by award-winning Science and Nature journalist Ferris Jabr, the cover story explores the history of aging research and the quest to increase lifespan. Debuking the perception that aging research aims to extend lifespan to immortality, AFAR experts emphasize the goal of expanding healthspan to assure all can live healthier for longer and speak on the development of therapeutics to target the biology of aging and age-related disease.
Dr. Austad is AFAR’s Senior Scientific Director. He is also a distinguished professor and Chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as Co-Principle Investigator of the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging Coordinating Center.
Dr. Kirkland is AFAR’s Board President, a 2012 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award recipient, and a 2020 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction recipient. He is also a distinguished Professor of Medicine and Physiology, as well as the Director at the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Dr. Olshansky is an AFAR board member and 2016 Irving S. Wright Award recipient. He is currently 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, and the Chief Scientist at Lapetus Solutions, Inc.
Dr. Sinclair is an AFAR board member, a 2000 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and AFAR Grants for Junior Faculty recipient, and a 2018 Irving S. Wright Award recipient. He is also a Professor in the Department of Genetics and co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School.
Read the cover story, “How Long Can We Age,” here.
Learn how AFAR grantees have led the top breakthroughs in aging research for 40 years here.
