Longevity | Toward a Model of Age, Aging & Therapeutic Rejuvenation

Adele Gulfo moderated a conversation with Kristen Fortney PhD, Raj Panjabi MD, Elisabeth Roider MD, PhD and David Scadden MD about one of the most hyped areas in medicine: whether the biology of aging itself can become a therapeutic target.

The panel quickly separated lifespan from healthspan. Fortney focused on the years people spend living with an accumulating burden of chronic disease, while Panjabi pointed to cancer, brain health, immune health and metabolic health as major drivers of unhealthy aging. Scadden brought the perspective of a physician-scientist working across cancer and regenerative biology, reinforcing how interconnected those systems become over time.

Roider focused on the translation problem. The science is advancing quickly, but aging itself is not treated as a disease, which complicates funding, regulation and the path from promising biology to an approved therapy.

The conversation was much more confident about extending healthy years than dramatically extending maximum human lifespan. Near-term progress is more likely to come from delaying disease and preserving function than from a single treatment that fundamentally resets human aging.