Stephanie Lederman is Executive Director of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). Under Ms. Lederman’s leadership since 1992, AFAR has grown into a globally recognized organization that has been able to contribute more than $200 million to nearly 4,400 new investigators and students conducting biomedical research on aging processes and age-related diseases.

She serves as the Co-Principal Investigator for the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging Coordinating Center and the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) and is the Co-Investigator for the National Program Office Clin-STAR (Clinician-Scientists Transdisciplinary Aging Research) initiative—three programs of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

An advocate for aging research, she works to promote the field through raising funds for the research pipeline, organizing scientific meetings, and leading outreach to the general public and media.

During the course of her career in the not-for-profit sector, Ms. Lederman has served as executive director of The National Center for Health Education and has held leadership positions at The American Red Cross in Greater New York, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and The American Heart Association. She holds a master’s degree from Boston University.

Ms. Lederman is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Aging Association, a member of Royal Society of Medicine, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. She was selected to serve on the cross-sector advisory committee for the New York State Master Plan for Aging, designed to ensure that older adults and individuals of all ages can live healthy, fulfilling lives while aging with dignity and independence. She also has advised the BLAST (Building Links in Ageing Science and Translation) Network of the University of Oxford, UK.