Nir Barzilai is a professor of medicine and genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the director of the Institute for Aging Research. He is best known for his work with some of the world’s oldest populations and is currently leading an international effort to aprove drugs that could target aging. Dr. Barzilai was born in Isreal and has had a life-long interest in the mechanisms that control the aging process. He hypothesizes that centenarians have protective genes which delay aging or protect against age-related diseases.