Thomas A. Rando, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology at UCLA, where he is a professor of Neurology and Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. Dr. Rando earned his AB, MD, and PhD degrees from Harvard University. He completed his residency training in neurology at the University of California San Francisco, after which he pursued postdoctoral research at Stanford University. He was then recruited to the faculty at Stanford in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, where he was the founding director of the Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, chief of neurology at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, and Deputy Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. He was also the Program Director for an NIA-funded training program in aging research for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at Stanford. Dr. Rando joined the faculty at UCLA in 2021.

Dr. Rando’s interests focus on the role of stem cells in tissue maintenance and repair, and how changes in stem cell function result in a declining ability of tissues to regenerate in response to injury or disease with age. Research from his laboratory has been at the forefront of the field of “epigenetic rejuvenation”, beginning with studies showing that exposure to factors in young blood renders aged cells and tissues more youthful. His research has given rise to novel clinical trials for age-related diseases and multiple biotechnology companies. Dr. Rando serves on the boards of several biotechnology companies and on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals. He has been a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Rando has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and has trained over 100 students, fellows, and visiting scholars, most of whom have continued in biomedical research careers and many of whom are leaders in their fields in academia. An AFAR Beeson Fellow early in his career, Dr. Rando has received many prestigious awards, including an Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar in Aging Award, an AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award, an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, and an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award. He is an Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Skou Professor at Aarhus University in Denmark, and a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Study at the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology. Dr. Rando is an elected member of the American Academy of Neurology and an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. In 2016, he was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine, and in 2020 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He joined the AFAR Board of Directors in 2017, was elected President Elect in January 2021, and started his term as President in January 2024. During this time, he has served on various board committees including the Scientific Review, TAME Advisory, Strategic Development , Governance and Board Development committees, as well as the Executive Committee. He has chaired the Selection Committee for AFAR’s Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Aging, and has served on AFAR’s National Scientific Advisory Council.