Fifth Geroscience Summit: Revisiting the Geroscience Hypothesis - Focus on Health

December 2, 2026 | 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.

7:30 a.m. Registration & Check-In

8:00 a.m. Welcome Remarks and Introduction, Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Richard Hodes, M.D., Director, National Institute on Aging (NIA)

8:20 a.m. Keynote Address: Hallmarks of Life, Luigi Ferrucci, M.D., Ph.D., NIA

9:00 a.m. Break

9:30 a.m. Framing Discussion: Moving Geroscience from Diseases to Health, Felipe Sierra, Ph.D.

9:45 a.m. Session I | Is Aging the Primary Disease? Mechanisms and Endpoints for Human Health

Chair: Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Ph.D., Altos Labs, and Co-Chair: Youngsuk Oh, Ph.D., National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Description: For decades, the field of aging research focused primarily on describing the molecular decline that inevitably leads to infirmity. However, we have reached a critical inflection point where our understanding of the biological hallmarks of aging is finally converging with clinical methodology. This session addresses the central challenge of 21st-century medicine: How do we translate fundamental mechanisms into validated human endpoints?

The narrative of this session is built on a dual-track approach. On one hand, we explore Disease as an Endpoint, where speakers will discuss how targeting aging biology can treat specific, high-burden pathologies like immune senescence and degenerative disorders. On the other hand, we define Health as an Endpoint, utilizing revolutionary epigenetic metrics and systemic interventions to measure and maintain resilience before the first diagnosis occurs. By bringing together the architects of aging theory and the pioneers of clinical translation, this session provides a roadmap for a new era of healthcare, one that moves beyond the reactive treatment of isolated diseases and toward the proactive preservation of human healthspan.

Speakers: TBD

10:45 a.m. Roundtable Discussion

11:15 a.m. Lunch Break

12:20 p.m. Session II | New Research Areas in Geroscience

Chair: Jesse Poganik, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, and Co-Chair: Amanda Dibattista, Ph.D., NIA

Speakers: TBD

1:20 p.m. Roundtable Discussion

1:50 p.m. Break

2:20 p.m. Session III | Bridging Geroscience with Social and Behavioral Science: Research Opportunities and Real-World Implications

Chair: Eileen Crimmins, Ph.D., USC, and Co-Chair: Lis Nielsen, Ph.D., NIA

Description: Geroscience must begin with a clear understanding of the United States’ current position on healthspan and lifespan. U.S. health and life expectancy trends have been troubling in recent decades and are marked by large socioeconomic disparities. Multidisciplinary, population-representative studies of aging now combine rich social and biological data across the life course, creating a powerful platform to test geroscience hypotheses and identify drivers of biological aging. Evidence linking social conditions to biological processes highlights behaviors and social exposures as modifiable influences on aging and points to potential targets for intervention. This session will also consider a broader question: What if geroscience succeeds? Delaying aging, compressing morbidity, and extending healthspan could have far-reaching implications for population health, health systems, work and retirement, community services, family support, and long-term care. Speakers will address the following questions:

• What are recent trends in US healthspan and life expectancy?
• How important are social and behavioral factors as cause of aging biology?
• How well can we measure biology in representative populations?
• What will happen to lifespans and populations with the success of Geroscience?

Speakers: TBD

3:20 p.m. Roundtable Discussion

3:50 p.m. Day 1 Overall Roundtable: Moving Geroscience from Diseases to Health

Moderators: Felipe Sierra, Ph.D. and Vadim Gladyshev, Ph.D., Harvard University

Participants: Luigi Ferrucci, M.D., Ph.D., NIA, Steven Austad, Ph.D., The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Ph.D., Altos Labs, Jesse Poganik, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, and Eileen Crimmins, Ph.D., USC

4:35 p.m. Day 1 Closing Remarks, Felipe Sierra, Ph.D.

4:45 p.m. Day 1 Concludes

December 3, 2026 | 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

7:30 a.m. Registration & Check-In

8:00 a.m. Framing Day 2: How Do We Measure Health? From Research Models to Humans, Tony Wyss-Coray, Ph.D., Stanford University

8:15 a.m. Session IV | Geroscience Tools: How Do We Measure Health?

Chair: John Beard, MBBS, Ph.D., Columbia University, and Co-Chair: Mercy Prabhudas, Ph.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Description: This session aims to understand the current state of the field, including molecular, physiological, and functional assessments used to quantify biological age and health span in research and clinical settings. Speakers will evaluate the strengths and limitations of current geroscience measurement tools, such as frailty indices, epigenetic clocks, and multi-omics approaches, and discuss their applications in monitoring interventions aimed at promoting healthy aging.

Speakers: TBD

9:15 a.m. Roundtable Discussion

9:45 a.m. Break

10:15 a.m. Session V | Gerotherapeutics for Health, Clinical Trials, and the Role of Clinicians

Chair: John Newman, M.D., Ph.D., Buck Institute for Research on Aging, and Co-Chair: Evan Hadley, M.D., NIA

Description: Speakers in this session will help us to better understand the current landscape of geroscience-based clinical research, including past failures and successes. One goal for the session is to identify the major challenges associated with developing, testing, and gaining regulatory approval for a gerotherapeutic agent that would be delivered to healthy individuals. In this session we will learn from a variety of stakeholder groups (e.g., academia, big pharma, biotech) about the latest advances in gerotherapeutic development.

Speakers: TBD

11:15 a.m. Roundtable Discussion

11:45 a.m. Lunch Break

12:45 p.m. Session VI | In Vitro Models to Study Human Healthy Aging

Chair: Siobhan Malany, Ph.D., University of Florida, and Co-Chair: Tiziana Cogliati, Ph.D., NIA

Description: New approach methodologies (NAMs) have the potential to transform biomedical research. This session will highlight promising NAMs and identify where they may be useful for addressing key gaps with animal models for studying human healthy aging. Speakers will discuss future directions for integrating NAMs into translational therapeutic frameworks and propose where and how NAMs are best leveraged in discovery and development.

Speakers: TBD

1:45 p.m. Roundtable Discussion

2:15 p.m. Break

2:45 p.m. Session VII | New Initiatives in Geroscience

Chair: Jodi Nunnari, Ph.D., Altos Labs, and Co-Chair: Christy Carter, Ph.D., NIA

Description: This session will feature a roundtable discussion aimed at exploring emerging private-sector geroscience initiatives, including biotech, pharmaceutical, and technology-driven approaches, with attention on evidence thresholds for aging-related interventions. Speakers will examine translational geroscience frameworks and regulatory pathways that move discoveries in the biology of aging into clinical development. Real-world implementation across healthcare and community settings will be discussed along with partnerships between private industry, academia, and healthcare systems and their potential impact.

Speakers: TBD

3:45 p.m. Session VIII | Geroscience Across NIH

Chair: Elizabeth Necka, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and Co-Chair: Paige Green, Ph.D., M.P.H., National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Description: Geroscience—an interdisciplinary framework focused on understanding the biological mechanisms of aging and their role in the onset and progression of age-related conditions—offers unique opportunities to enhance multisystem disease prevention and improve healthspan. Leveraging a geroscience framework can bolster NIH’s ability to achieve its mission of applying fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. This session will convene senior NIH Institute, Center and Office (ICO) leadership to articulate a shared vision for how adopting a geroscience approach can advance ICO missions and amplify the impact of NIH-funded research.

Through brief vision-setting remarks from ICO leaders and a roundtable discussion, this session will highlight how geroscience can be integrated into a broad array of research portfolios, inform strategic priorities, and catalyze cross-ICO collaboration. This session will underscore leadership commitment to shaping a cohesive, NIH-wide approach to aging biology that complements disease- and organ-specific missions. This session will also provide a funders’ perspective on future directions for the field, which will be leveraged in discussion during the following and final session of the summit.

Speakers: TBD

4:45 p.m. Day 2 Overall Roundtable: Future Directions for the Field

Moderators: Tony Wyss-Coray, Ph.D., Stanford University and Vadim Gladyshev, Ph.D., Harvard University

Participants: John Beard, MBBS, Ph.D., Columbia University, John Newman, M.D., Ph.D., Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Siobhan Malany, Ph.D., University of Florida, Jodi Nunnari, Ph.D., Altos Labs, Elizabeth Necka, Ph.D., NIMH, and Sebastien Thuault, Ph.D., Nature Aging

5:20 p.m. Closing Remarks, Viviana Perez Montes, Ph.D., NIA and Richard Hodes, M.D., NIA

5:30 p.m. Summit Concludes