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In April 2024, Matt delivered a presentation at a two-day congressional briefing on longevity science hosted at Washington, D.C.'s Mayflower Hotel by the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI). Attendees included former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Republican Congressman Gus Bilirakis, and Democratic Congressman Paul Tonko. We have decided to include Matt's presentation on our channel because we believe it delivers a valuable message.

Healthcare has historically taken a piecemeal approach to diseases, addressing ailments in isolation. While this method has been successful at curing and sometimes even eradicating multiple diseases, it has its limitations. Aging is the single greatest risk factor for many of the chronic diseases we worry about in later life—think cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes—and involves a complex interplay of molecular, cellular, and physiological changes that underlie a myriad of health conditions. There is a reason that your average 80-year-old has more health problems than your average 18-year-old. As our understanding of human biology deepens, it is becoming increasingly evident that we need to broaden our focus beyond individual diseases and incorporate the biology of aging into strategies for improving human health and resilience to disease. Achieving this paradigm shift towards addressing the fundamental processes of aging, which will require interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists, clinicians, policymakers, and the public, will give us the potential to mitigate multiple age-related diseases simultaneously.

In this episode, Matt covers how we got here, the differences between 19th and 21st century medicine, and the importance of targeting the biological aging process to create transformative results in tackling healthcare challenges. He also discusses policy reforms that would be useful for the cause, including changes to FDA regulation, a rethinking of insurance reimbursement, and how he would reslice the federal funding pie.

Producers: Tara Mei, Nicholas Arapis

Video Editor: Jacob Keliikoa

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Hi, I'm Matt Kaeberlein. I spent the first few decades of my career doing scientific research into the biology of aging, trying to understand the finer details of how humans age in order to facilitate translational interventions that promote healthspan and improve quality of life. Now I want to take some of that knowledge out of the lab and into the hands of people who can really use it.