The IHU’s Scientific board is made up of French and international medical and scientific representatives from outside the Foundation, appointed for their expertise by the Management board. It is systematically consulted on the major medical and scientific orientations, gives opinions and evaluates the scientific projects submitted by the IHU teams. It draws up an orientation report, evaluations and an annual report that is submitted to the Management board. It meets at least once a year.
Luigi FERRUCCI (President), MD, PhD, is currently Scientific Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Dr. Ferrucci is a geriatrician and an epidemiologist who conducts research on the causal pathways leading to progressive physical and cognitive decline in older persons. He has made major contributions in the design of many epidemiological studies conducted in the U.S. and in Europe. Dr. Ferrucci received a Medical Degree and Board Certification in 1980, Board Certification in Geriatrics in 1982 and Ph.D. in Biology and Pathophysiology of Aging in 1998 at the University of Florence, Italy. Between 1985 and 2002 he was Chief of Geriatric Rehabilitation at the Department of Geriatric Medicine and Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology at the Italian National Institute of Aging. In September 2002, he became the Chief of the Longitudinal Studies Section at NIA. From 2002 to 2014 he was the Director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging. Dr. Ferrucci is currently the Scientific Director of NIA, since May 2011.
Paul AISEN, M.D., has been appointed founding director of USC ATRI. Aisen has been a leading figure in Alzheimer’s disease research for more than two decades, having developed novel methodologies as well as designed and directed many large therapeutic trials. He received his B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard and his medical degree from Columbia. He completed his residency at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and then fellowship training in rheumatology at New York University. After serving as chief medical resident at Mount Sinai, he began a solo practice in internal medicine and rheumatology in New York. Aisen joined the faculty of Mount Sinai in 1994 and was recruited to Georgetown University in 1999 as a professor of neurology and medicine. That year, he founded the Memory Disorders Programme, a clinical and research programme for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. He continued basic research studies on therapeutic targets and biomarkers and designed and directed multicenter therapeutic trials. He became vice chair of the Department of Neurology at Georgetown in 2004. From 2007 through 2015, he was professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study.
John BEARD, MBBS, PhD, is Irene Diamond Professor and Director of the International Longevity Center-USA at Columbia University, New York. He was previously Director of Ageing and Life Course with WHO in Geneva where, among other responsibilities, he was lead writer for the World report on ageing and health, oversaw development of the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) programme, established the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. He has worked extensively with the World Economic Forum and was a Commissioner for the US National Academy of Medicine Global Roadmap on Healthy Longevity. His current research explores how health can be framed from the perspective of functioning rather than the presence or absence of disease.
Anne BRUNET, PhD, is Michele and Timothy Barakett Professor of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging at Stanford University. Dr. Brunet obtained her BSc from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and her PhD from the University of Nice, France. She did her postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Greenberg at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brunet is interested in the molecular mechanisms of aging and longevity. She wants to understand the mechanism of neural stem cell aging. She also seeks to discover novel genes regulating longevity, notably developing a new short-lived vertebrate, the African killifish. Dr. Brunet has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and reviews. She has received several awards, including the Pfizer/AFAR Innovation in Aging Research Award and the Vincent Cristofalo “Rising Star” Award in Aging Research. She received a Pioneer Award and a Transformative Award from the NIH Director’s fund, which supports scientists who propose pioneering and transforming approaches to major challenges in biomedical research. In 2022, together with Dr. Andrew Dillin, she received the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences.
Rafael DE CABO, PhD, is Chief of the Translational Gerontology Branch at the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, USA. Dr. de Cabo earned his Ph.D. in 2000 from the Department of Foods and Nutrition at Purdue University. He received a postdoctoral position in the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2004, he was appointed as a tenure track investigator in the Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology. He is now a senior investigator and Chief of the Translational Gerontology Branch at NIA. His research has focused on the effects of nutritional interventions on basic mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases, the effects of caloric restriction on aging, and pharmacological interventions for healthy aging. Ultimately his research aims to identify interventions that will improve healthspan and lifespan with translational potential to benefit human aging.
Nathan LEBRASSEUR, PT, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and has a joint appointment in the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Clinic. Dr. LeBrasseur is the Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging, the Co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, and Scientific Director of the Office of Translation to Practice at Mayo Clinic. He is the recent chair of the NIH Cellular Mechanisms in Aging and Development Study Section. Dr. LeBrasseur’s research team conducts translational “bench-to-bedside” research on strategies to improve physical function, metabolism, and resilience in the face of aging and disease. His latest work has centered on cellular senescence, a fundamental mechanism of aging, and interventions to counter this process to extend healthspan. Dr. LeBrasseur has received the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, the Nathan W. Shock Award Lecture from the National Institute on Aging, and the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research from the American Federation for Aging Research. He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.
John ORAV, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and of Biostatistics at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. He will be joining IHU HealthAge as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, offering expertise in statistical study design, implementation, and analysis. Dr. Orav has extensive experience in clinical trials, health services research, and programme evaluation. His current projects focus on the special care needs of older patients with dementia, those living in nursing homes, and those receiving care in the emergency room and the in-patient setting. He is an advisor to the Mongan Institute Center for Aging and Serious Illness at the Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as the US Health and Human Services office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. He has been actively engaged for over 35 years in teaching and mentoring physicians entering academic careers at Harvard and in related programmes in Buenos Aires, Moscow, and Beirut.
Josef PENNINGER, MD, PhD, is the Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany since July 1, 2023. At the same time, he was appointed part-time Professor for Precision Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. Dr. Penninger studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck. From 1990 to 1994 he worked as post-doctoral fellow at the Ontario Cancer Institute, thereafter until 2002 at the Department of Immunology and Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. As Principal Investigator at Amgen, his independent lab contributed to the development of the antibody Denosumab for bone loss and found the first connection for RANKL to mammary gland development in pregnancy and breast cancer. In 2002, he moved to Vienna, to start and develop the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which has become one of the prime research centers in the world. From the end of 2018 to June 2023 Dr. Penninger returned to Canada and was the Director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Penninger created a similar environment at the LSI that nurtured and trained the best and brightest young minds of UBC scholars. His major accomplishments include pioneering insights into the molecular basis of osteoporosis and breast cancer and demonstrating a critical role for ACE2 as the cellular receptor for SARS Coronavirus infections and linking ACE2 to lung failure in such infections.
Thomas SCHULZ, MSc, MA, is chief reporter of Der SPIEGEL, Europe´s leading news organization. Previously, he was Der SPIEGEL´s US correspondent (Business and Economy) for almost a decade, initially based in New York from 2008, before moving to San Francisco in 2012 to set up Der SPIEGEL´s editorial office in Silicon Valley. His highly acclaimed international business bestseller «What Google really wants» was published in 2015 and translated into several languages. His follow up «Future Medicine» also immediately entered the bestseller list. His new book «Project Lifespan» will be published in September 2024. Schulz holds a MSc of Political Science from Frankfurt University and an MA in Communication Studies from University of Miami. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and researched international economic policy as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Schulz has been named Journalist of the Year in Germany and awarded several prizes for excellence in journalism.
Eric VERDIN is the President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. His laboratory studies the relationship between ageing, epigenetics, metabolism and the immune system. A native of Belgium, Dr. Verdin received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Liege and completed his clinical and research training at Harvard Medical School. He has held senior appointments at several international medical schools, and is also a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Verdin has extensive experience working with biotech companies and longevity clinics.
Jeremy WALSTON, MD, PhD, is Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins University where he leads the biological, engineering, and clinical translational-focused Johns Hopkins Human Aging Project, Baltimore, Maryland, United States. His research has helped to identify the biological and physiological systems most engaged in the development of physical frailty and resiliency in older adults, with extensive progress in chronic inflammation and energy metabolism and their impact on healthspan. He works extensively to translate important research findings into clinical practice in order to improve the health and well-being of older adults. Dr. Walston also is the co-director of the NIA funded Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory (AITC) at Johns Hopkins where he and his colleagues work to identify new uses of AI and technologies that will improve diagnostic approaches and health care of older adults.
Michael WEINER, MD, is a Professor Emeritus in Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is Principal Investigator of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which is the largest observational study in the world concerning Alzheimer’s Disease. He is the former Director of the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIND) at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. After graduating from the Johns Hopkins University in 1961, he obtained his M.D, from SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York in 1965, and he completed his internship and residency in Medicine from Mt. Sinai Hospital in 1967. From 1967-1968, Dr. Weiner completed a residency and clinical fellowship in Metabolism from Yale-New Haven Medical Center. From 1960-70 he was a research fellow in Nephrology at Yale. From 1970-71 he was a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Enzyme Research. In 1972, he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Renal Section from the University of Wisconsin Institute and from 1971-1973 he was a Research Associate of the Veterans Administration. In 1973 he was awarded a Clinical Investigatorship of the Veterans Administration. In 1974 he became an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) at Stanford University. In 1976 he was a visiting scientist in the laboratory of Sir Hans Krebs in Oxford, England. In 1980 he became an Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) at UCSF. In 1983, he established the Magnetic Resonance Unit at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, which became the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases in 2000. In 1990, he became a Professor of Radiology, Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology at UCSF.
Walter WILLETT, MD, PhD, is a physician and epidemiologist and Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard for 25 years. Much of his work has been on the development of methods, using both questionnaire and biochemical approaches, to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. He has applied these methods starting in 1980 in the Nurses’ Health Studies I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Together, these cohorts that include nearly 300,000 men and women with repeated dietary assessments are providing the most detailed information on the long-term health consequences of food choices. Dr. Willett has published over 2,000 research papers, primarily on lifestyle risk factors for heart disease and cancer, and has written the textbook, Nutritional Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press. He also has four books for the general public. Dr. Willett is the most cited nutritional scientist internationally. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of many national and international awards for his research.
