STAT+: The woman behind the world’s biggest longevity competition

Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Sarah ToddMay 29, 2026 Sarah Todd[email protected]Sarah covers how industries like food and tobacco affect Americans’ bodies and minds. Her interests include ultra-processed foods; smoke-free tobacco; and wellness trends like perimenopause products and peptides. Confidential tips can be sent on Signal at sarahlizchar.47. BERKELEY, Calif. — Jamie Justice is an anti-aging researcher with a name fit for a superhero and a grand mission to match. A few years ago, she left her tenure-track job at Wake Forest University to team up with entrepreneur Peter Diamandis on XPRIZE Healthspan — a $101 million global competition meant to identify therapeutic treatments that can restore muscle, cognition, and immune function in older adults.“There’s a booming market for slowing aging, but there’s no way to tell if [treatments] work,” Justice said onstage at the longevity conference Vitalist Bay here this month. XPRIZE Healthspan, for which she serves as executive director, was created to bridge that gap. The 10 teams selected from a pool of 40 this year will be required to test out their therapies in yearlong randomized controlled clinical trials before the winner of the grand prize is announced in 2030. Dressed in wide-legged jeans and a dark blazer, Justice walked the audience through XPRIZE competitors’ varying approaches to longevity. Exercise, senolytics (drugs that target damaged “zombie” cells that increase as we age), and personalized medicine geared toward biomarkers were among some of the prevailing approaches.Advertisement The longevity field, as the people involved in it acknowledge, tends to attract colorful characters with far-out theories. (A man in a purple cape trotted regally through the grounds of Vitalist Bay.) Figures like Justice, who’s hung onto her academic ties as an adjunct assistant professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest, occupy a more grounded, science-based part of the spectrum. But she welcomes a big-tent approach to the world of anti-aging research. “I think, as scientists, we have to be really mindful to not turn into gatekeepers,” she told STAT during an interview after her talk.STAT sat down with Justice to learn more about the XPRIZE Healthspan competitors, research on what people really want in their old age, and the problem of “purely scammy” companies giving longevity a bad name. STAT+ Exclusive Story Already have an account? Log in This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers Unlock this article — plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts. Already have an account? Log in Monthly $39 Totals $468 per year $39/month Get Started Totals $468 per year Starter $30 for 3 months, then $399/year $30 for 3 months Get Started Then $399/year Annual $399 Save 15% $399/year Get Started Save 15% 11+ Users Custom Savings start at 25%! Request A Quote Request A Quote Savings start at 25%! 2-10 Users $300 Annually per user $300/year Get Started $300 Annually per user View All Plans To read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+. Subscribe Log In aging, biotechnology, research, scientists, Startups, STAT+ Submit a correction requestReprints Sarah Todd Reporter, Commercial Determinants of Health Sarah covers how industries like food and tobacco affect Americans’ bodies and minds. Her interests include ultra-processed foods; smoke-free tobacco; and wellness trends like perimenopause products and peptides. Confidential tips can be sent on Signal at sarahlizchar.47. Recommended Biotech June 2, 2026 STAT Plus: Longevity startup NewLimit raises $435 million ahead of first clinical trial The Readout June 2, 2026 STAT Plus: Radiopharmaceutical shows promise in post-Pluvicto setting Advertisement Pharmalot June 2, 2026 STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a Lilly threat to 340B hospitals, Ebola vaccine funding, and more Morning Rounds June 2, 2026 How one state’s medical meal program lowered health care costs Health tech June 2, 2026 STAT Plus: Online care is caught in the crossfire as states crack down on corporate medicine Subscriber Picks