Geroscience Urged to Focus on Healthy Life Extension

New editorial calls for treating healthy life extension as the primary goal of aging research.

Mar. 19, 2026 at 1:00am

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

A new editorial published in the journal Aging-US urges the field of geroscience to adopt healthy life extension, measured as health-adjusted survival, as its primary objective rather than treating lifespan and healthspan as competing goals. The editorial, led by David A. Barzilai, pays tribute to the late Mikhail Blagosklonny and calls for a "moonshot"-level commitment to aging biology that includes larger, better-funded basic programs, clinical trials with health-adjusted survival endpoints, and translational pipelines to move robust mammalian lifespan findings toward human studies.

Why it matters

The editorial highlights that increases in life expectancy have outpaced gains in healthy life expectancy, and argues that geroscience should measure success by health-adjusted longevity rather than biomarkers alone. It emphasizes the need for replicable mammalian lifespan data paired with human endpoints that reflect quality of life and independence.

The details

The editorial reviews data showing that increases in life expectancy have outpaced gains in healthy life expectancy, and summarizes calls to measure success by health-adjusted longevity rather than biomarkers alone. It highlights examples where targeting conserved aging pathways produced replicable lifespan gains in mammals, and notes early human-facing signals that illustrate how aging-biology interventions can be clinically legible on shorter timelines. The editorial calls for larger, better-funded basic programs, clinical trials with health-adjusted survival endpoints, and translational pipelines to move robust mammalian lifespan findings toward human studies.

  • The editorial was published on March 10, 2026 in Volume 18 of the journal Aging-US.

The players

David A. Barzilai

The lead author of the editorial, who is affiliated with Geneva College of Longevity Science, Healthspan Coaching LLC (Barzilai Longevity Consulting), and Harvard Medical School.

Mikhail Blagosklonny

The late scientist whose legacy the editorial pays tribute to.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“Geroscience is for healthy life extension. We should stop pretending that lifespan and healthspan compete.”

— David A. Barzilai, Editorial Lead Author

What’s next

The editorial calls for a "moonshot"-level commitment to aging biology that includes larger, better-funded basic programs, clinical trials with health-adjusted survival endpoints, and translational pipelines to move robust mammalian lifespan findings toward human studies.

The takeaway

This editorial represents a significant shift in the field of geroscience, urging researchers to focus on healthy life extension as the primary goal rather than treating lifespan and healthspan as competing objectives. By emphasizing the need for replicable mammalian lifespan data paired with human endpoints that reflect quality of life and independence, the editorial lays out a clear path forward for the field to make meaningful progress in extending healthy, high-quality years of life.