Nir Barzilai
Professor of Medicine and Genetics; Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair in Aging Research; Director, Institute for Geroscience · Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY, United States
Impact
Nir Barzilai is a physician-scientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine whose work helped shape geroscience, the effort to target the biology of ageing itself rather than individual diseases. His studies of centenarians, largely in Ashkenazi Jewish families, supported the idea that people with exceptional longevity carry protective genes that delay ageing and age-related disease; early reports linked a distinctive lipoprotein phenotype and genotype to exceptional longevity (JAMA, 2003). His Einstein profile states that these findings informed CETP- and APOC3-targeted therapeutic approaches. He conceived the multicentre TAME (Targeting Aging with Metformin) trial, designed to establish biological ageing as a target for intervention, launched the AFAR SuperAgers Family Study, and is principal investigator of FAST, an AFAR-ARPA-H initiative to identify ageing biomarkers from existing clinical trials. He directs the Institute for Geroscience and the BIO-Vital Program, is President of the Global Academy for Health & Lifespan Research, sits on the AFAR Board (formerly its Scientific Director), and has received the NIA Nathan Shock Award and the IPSEN Longevity Award. He communicates widely to public audiences, including TEDx and TEDMED talks, the National Geographic documentary The Age of Aging, and his 2020 book Age Later.
Metrics
No public metrics available.
Research output
494 works · 42,142 citations · h-index 104 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span ↗ 2019 · 4,949 citations
- The genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes ↗ 2016 · 1,129 citations
- Metformin as a Tool to Target Aging ↗ 2016 · 1,116 citations
- Undulating changes in human plasma proteome profiles across the lifespan ↗ 2019 · 1,044 citations
- A nutrient-sensing pathway regulates leptin gene expression in muscle and fat ↗ 1998 · 846 citations
Research funding
50 NIH awards · USD 33M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Genetic variant-based drug discovery targeting conserved pathways of aging National Institute on Aging · 2023 · USD 3M
- Genetic variant-based drug discovery targeting conserved pathways of aging National Institute on Aging · 2026 · USD 3M
- Genetic variant-based drug discovery targeting conserved pathways of aging National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 3M
- Genetic variant-based drug discovery targeting conserved pathways of aging National Institute on Aging · 2025 · USD 3M
- Resilience to Alzheimer's disease in humans with exceptional longevity National Institute on Aging · 2021 · USD 1M