American Federation for Aging Research

10/19/2026

AFAR Experts in the News: Nir Barzilai, MD, and Daniel W. Belsky, PhD, featured in CNN on geroscience and targeting the biology of aging to extend healthspan. The FAST (Finding Aging Biomarkers by Searching Existing Trials) initiative—an initiative incubated and launched by AFAR in 2022, now advancing as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience (PROSPR) program—is also highlighted.
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As research into longevity advances, scientists are finding new ways to test a once-speculative idea: that aging itself could become a target of medicine.

10/19/2026

Meet our Distinguished Honoree: On December 7th, please join AFAR in honoring Atria Health and Research Institute at our upcoming 45th Anniversary Annual Awards Dinner and Scientific Symposium at the Harvard Club in NYC.

We are honored to recognize Atria Health and Research Institute and its commitment to helping us all live healthier, longer through innovative care and research, with CEO and Co-founder Alan Tisch accepting the award.

Through the Atria Research and Global Health Institute, a 501(c)(3) with 100+ academic fellows, Atria supports efforts to translate emerging science into clinical care and expand access to modern preventive medicine.

Buy Tickets and learn more here: https://www.afar.org/events/dec7-45thanniversarydinner

10/19/2026

The London Evening Standard recently featured insight from AFAR Grantee and Upstate Nathan Shock Center Director Vera Gorbunova, PhD, on Sirtuin 6, a protein involved in DNA repair, as a potential target to treat or delay age-related diseases and extend healthspan.
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NAD+ and NMN are already familiar names in the longevity lexicon, but now sirtuins are moving into the spotlight

10/16/2026

AFAR Grantee in the News: New research co-authored by Omer Sharon, PhD, exploring the connection between deep sleep loss, buildup of the protein tau, and aging-related memory loss, published in Nature Neuroscience. This research was supported in part by Dr. Sharon’s 2024 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Award and 2025 Postdoctoral Fellowship Continuation Award.
Read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02415-9

10/16/2026

In celebration of AFAR’s 45th Anniversary, we’re highlighting the people, programs, and milestones that have shaped AFAR and our impact on aging research.

In October 2019, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced the launch of the Healthy Longevity Global Competition, a multiyear, multimillion-dollar international competition seeking breakthrough innovations to extend human health and function later in life.

AFAR was an instrumental partner in the first round of the US-based Catalyst Awards, playing a critical role in facilitating the expert review process, which directly informed NAM’s decision-making. The Catalyst Awards have gone on to provide $36 million worldwide to seed bold, innovative ideas to improve health as we age. Several AFAR grantees have received this honor.

This month, the seven-year, far-reaching initiative will culminate at “Catalyzing Healthy Longevity: NAM Global Innovator Summit” on October 20th in DC and online. This hybrid gathering will spotlight breakthrough science, bold ideas, and global partnerships expanding what’s possible for health across the lifespan.

AFAR President Thomas A. Rando, MD, PhD, helped curate the summit and will be moderating a panel.

Learn more and register here:
https://nam.edu/event/2026-healthy-longevity-global-innovator-summit/

10/15/2026

From December 2nd-3rd, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Geroscience Interest Group and the National Institute on Aging - NIH (NIA) will host the Fifth Geroscience Summit in Bethesda, MD. The theme of this year’s hybrid summit is “Revisiting the Geroscience Hypothesis - Focus on Health.” Several AFAR-affiliated experts will be speaking, including Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD, and President Thomas A. Rando, MD, PhD, and AFAR is pleased to help support the hybrid event.

Learn more and register here:

https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dab/workshops/fifth-geroscience-summit-revisiting-geroscience-hypothesis-focus-health

10/15/2026

Recording now available from Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center and AFAR’s recent webinar, “When Zombie Cells Attack: How Geroscience is Fighting Back to Extend Healthspan.”
Moderated by AFAR Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD, this discussion exploring how a deeper understanding of senescent cells could help promote a longer healthspan featured Darren J. Baker, PhD, of Mayo Clinic; AFAR Grantee Anthony Covarrubias, PhD, of Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA; and 2018 AFAR Cristofalo Award recipient Laura Niedernhofer, MD, PhD, Co-Director of the Minnesota Nathan Shock Center.
Watch the recording now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLKbsi2IQec

10/14/2026

Two Months Away: Join AFAR for our 45th Anniversary Annual Awards Dinner and Scientific Symposium on Monday, December 7th, at the Harvard Club in NYC.

We are honored to recognize Atria Health and Research Institute, with CEO and Co-founder Alan Tisch accepting the award, and welcome our guest speaker, Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Zones LLC, National Geographic Explorer, 3x Emmy Award Winner, and 5x New York Times Bestseller.

This special event kicks off with the exclusive panel discussion, “Health and Wealth: The Future of Healthy Aging,” moderated by Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute, and featuring AFAR Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD; AFAR Grantee Denise Cai, PhD; CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging and AFAR Board Member Michael W. Hodin, PhD; and Irving Wright Award winner and Chair of the Blue Zones Research Institute S. Jay Olshansky, PhD. This discussion will explore how advances in aging research are changing what it means to live longer and healthier, and what those changes mean for individuals, institutions, and society. Bringing together perspectives in geroscience, cognition and brain health, demographics, public health, and socioeconomic policy, the conversation will examine the opportunities and challenges of advancing healthy aging.

Buy Tickets and learn more here: https://www.afar.org/events/dec7-45thanniversarydinner

10/14/2026

The Washington Post spotlighted recent research in JAMA Network Open co-authored by AFAR Grantee Sandra Aleksic, MD; SuperAgers Family Study Principal Investigator Sofiya Milman, MD, MS; and study Co-Investigators Nir Barzilai, MD, and Tom Perls, MD, MPH. AFAR Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD, and 2016 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction recipient S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, also lent insights to The Washington Post feature.
Read here:

People with centenarian parents may live longer and be less likely to develop heart disease. But genes don’t fully determine lifespan.

10/14/2026

AFAR is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2026 Sagol Network GerOmic Award for Junior Faculty: Erika Cyphert, PhD, of UC San Diego.
Dr. Cyphert will research “Uncovering how reproductive aging influences host-microbe metabolic interactions."
Learn more about Dr. Cyphert’s research and this award here: https://www.afar.org/news/announcing-afars-2026-sagol-network-geromic-award-for-junior-faculty-recipient