Jennifer Garrison, PhD, Co-Founder and Director of the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (GCRLE)

Jennifer Garrison, PhD, is Co-Founder and Director of the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (GCRLE) and an Assistant Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. She also holds appointments in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC). She is a passionate advocate for women’s health and is pioneering a new movement to advance science that is focused on female reproductive aging. Her lab studies the role of inter-tissue communication in systemic aging and how changes in the complex interactions between the ovary and brain during middle age lead to the onset of reproductive decline in females. Dr. Garrison has played an active role in the aging field as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Aging Association (AGE), a reviewer for the American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR), and an Associate Director of the Buck-USC Biology of Aging PhD program. She was named an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Neuroscience Research Fellow and an Allen Institute for Brain Science Next Generation Leader and is the recipient of a Glenn Medical Foundation Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging and a Junior Faculty Award from the American Federation of Aging Research.

Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, Vice President of Aging Research at Calico

Professor Cynthia Kenyon is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the molecular biology and genetics of aging and life extension. Her early discovery that a single-gene mutation could double the lifespan of healthy, fertile roundworms overturned long-held ideas about aging: that it does not 'just happen' in a haphazard way but is subject to genetic control. Her pioneering studies led to the discovery of many longevity genes and pathways – including a universal hormone-signaling pathway that influences the rate of aging in multiple species, including mammals. Her lab was also the first to discover that perturbing neurons, as well as germ cells, can extend the lifespan of animals.  Cynthia's research brings hope that therapies targeting this biology could extend health span and delay the onset of diseases associated with aging in people. In pursuit of this, in 2014, she joined a new company focused on health, well-being, and longevity, Calico, as Vice President of Aging Research. Cynthia earned her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner in Cambridge, UK. Before joining Calico, she was a Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. Cynthia is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she is a former president of the Genetics Society of America. Her many awards include the Dickson Prize in Medicine, the Dan David Prize, the King Faisal International Prize for Medicine, La Fondation IPSEN Prize, and the American Association of Medical Colleges Award for Distinguished Research in Biomedical Sciences.