From Cells to Society: The Science of Extending Healthspan Please join us for the launch of the annual Healthy Aging Symposium at Harvard, hosted by the Healthy Aging Initiative at…
The Healthy Aging Initiative at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together world-leading experts in laboratory science and public health to spark innovation in the field of geroscience.
Our mission is to maximize the time spent disease free in old age for all.
We will achieve this goal by identifying the drivers of age-related disease and discover the therapeutics, policies, and interventions that can help people worldwide add more healthy years to their lives.
Can we really slow aging?
Yes!
Disease is not an inevitable consequence of longevity—not in the animal world, and not in humans. Across the animal kingdom, some species maintain “youthful” cells, and excellent health, well into advanced chronological age. In human populations, exceptional agers also exist, living into their 90s without chronic disease.
In recent years, scientists have developed sophisticated molecular tools to measure biological age, as distinct from chronological age. Even more exciting, they have begun to identify interventions capable of halting, or even reversing, biological aging in animal models.
In addition, new research shows that social advantage and a range of health assets, such as safe neighborhoods, high-quality education, and having a sense of hope, can decelerate the rate at which people age.
The Healthy Aging Initiative aims to bring together insights from all these fields to meaningfully extend healthspans for hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
Over the past century, public health has added decades to human life expectancy. Now, it’s time to focus on making those extra years healthy.
William Mair, Director of the Healthy Aging Initiative
More about the initiative
We will unlock the keys to healthy aging, enabling individuals and communities worldwide to live longer and healthier lives, achieve greater productivity, and enjoy a sustained sense of well-being.
The Healthy Aging Initiative will spark innovation in geroscience through a unique and strategic interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together world-leading experts in laboratory science and public health.
Our research will be rigorous and focused: A scientific mission to extend the human lifespan—and make those added years healthy and productive.
We will:
Advance the field
Unlock the science of biological aging at the genetic, molecular, and cellular levels.
Uncover social, psychological, behavioral, and biological drivers of age-related disease through large epidemiological studies.
Identify the biological mechanisms by which socioeconomic and psychosocial factors influence human aging, separately considering factors that promote health from those that increase risk and deterioration.
Identify targets for interventions that promote healthy aging at the population scale.
Address inequities in healthy aging, both within and between populations.
Train the next generation
Develop relevant courses to offer at Harvard Chan School and beyond.
Build a concentration in geroscience for students at the School.
Secure funds to support student scholarships and training.
Translate insights into action
Share findings with the academic community through seminars, webinars, and a guest lecture series.
Communicate our findings to policymakers, the press, and the public—clearly and accurately, without hyperbole.
Work with industry, governments, nonprofits, and communities to translate our research into therapeutics, policies, and public health recommendations that meaningfully extend the human healthspan around the globe.
Our goal is to increase the human healthspan—that is, to make the added years of life healthy ones.
This will generate a substantial “longevity dividend,” both at the individual and the societal level, by reducing the risk of developing disabling diseases and extending healthy functioning.
This longevity dividend will lead to lower burden on the health care system, increased productivity and ability to remain in the workforce, and an improved and more durable sense of personal well-being.
It will take a multidisciplinary effort, bringing together many scientific fields, to deliver healthy aging. That’s what we’re doing here. We aim to extend the human healthspan while promoting well-being and resilience worldwide.
Laura Kubzansky, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Every gift contributes to our mission of building a world where everyone can thrive. To learn more about how you can support the Health Aging Initiative, please contact Laura Barnes.
