Impact
James Kirkland is a physician-scientist who studies how aging processes, particularly cellular senescence, contribute to disease across the lifespan, and who develops gerotherapeutics that target those mechanisms. He is credited with discovering senolytic drugs, agents that selectively eliminate senescent cells; his group and then others showed that senolytics improve healthspan and treat multiple diseases in animal models, human cells and tissue explants. He published the first clinical trials of senolytic drugs and the first composite biomarker score of senescent cell burden responsive to drug intervention in humans, and is preparing or conducting clinical studies of senolytics in conditions including frailty, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and obesity, osteoporosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cancer survivorship. He is principal investigator of the NIH-funded Translational Geroscience Network, which coordinates translation of healthspan interventions across US institutions. Formerly at Mayo Clinic, where he is Emeritus Professor of Medicine, he now directs the Center for Advanced Gerotherapeutics at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. He is board-certified in internal medicine, geriatrics and endocrinology and metabolism, is immediate past president of the American Federation for Aging Research and president-elect of the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society, and received AFAR's 2020 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction.
Metrics
- h-index 125 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗
Research output
524 works · 64,531 citations · h-index 115 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders ↗ 2011 · 3,748 citations
- The Achilles’ heel of senescent cells: from transcriptome to senolytic drugs ↗ 2015 · 2,545 citations
- Senolytics improve physical function and increase lifespan in old age ↗ 2018 · 2,360 citations
- Sarcopenia: Aging-Related Loss of Muscle Mass and Function ↗ 2018 · 1,822 citations
- Cellular senescence and the senescent secretory phenotype: therapeutic opportunities ↗ 2013 · 1,820 citations
Research funding
5 NIH awards · USD 3M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Translational Geroscience Network National Institute on Aging · 2025 · USD 796K
- Effect of Aging on Preadipocyte Differentiation National Institute on Aging · 2025 · USD 708K
- Translational Geroscience Network National Institute on Aging · 2026 · USD 702K
- Resource Core 1 (RC1) Advanced Gerotherapeutics National Institute on Aging · 2025 · USD 359K
- Resource Core 1 (RC1) Advanced Gerotherapeutics National Institute on Aging · 2026 · USD 319K