Presenter
Jamie Justice, XPRIZE
Jamie is the Executive Vice President of the Health Domain at XPRIZE Foundation, and Adjunct Professor in Internal Medicine Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, and Sticht Center on Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM). She is dedicated to Geroscience research that advances the hypothesis that by targeting the basic biology of aging the incidence of multiple age-related diseases can be delayed or prevented. Her training background at University of Colorado Boulder and WFUSM allowed her to lead translational research and clinical trials networks to test the Geroscience hypothesis in humans. At WFUSM, Jamie was director of the Biogerontology Lab, and co-leader of the Integrative Biology Core (IBC) of the WF Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) and was a Principal Investigator of the National Institute of Aging-supported Geroscience Education and Training Network, an engaged member of the Translational Geroscience Network, Gerontological Society of America’s ESPO scientific section officer and executive committee member from 2018-2021. She is the recipient of the Jarrahi Research Scholars Fund in Geroscience Innovation, the 2022 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research, and the 2022 NIA Nathan W Shock Awardee. In her new role as EVP of Health Domain she will lead international networks to drive innovative solutions to improve human health and aging that is affordable and accessible to all.
Summary:
Executive Summary: XPRIZE Healthspan is a 7-year, $101 million global competition to catalyse the development of interventions to restore function lost to age-related decline of multiple organ systems in humans. Teams will develop and test therapeutics including drugs, biologics, gene therapies, devices, nutritional, or lifestyle approaches – administered alone or in combination. The winning team will demonstrate that their therapeutic, when administered over the course of 1 year or less, restores function across the muscle, cognitive, and immune systems of older adults. Dr Jamie Justice, the Executive Director of $101M XPRIZE Healthspan competition, introduces the prize and invites the community to help shape the first phase of the competition.
Challenges:
Traditional medicine focuses on treating symptoms of injury, illness, or disease once they develop. This reactive system extends life, but doesn’t proactively improve health, leaving millions grappling with poor quality of life and related economic challenges in their later years. Promising therapeutics capable of extending lifespan and healthspan are being developed and tested in the lab, but public perception, poor alignment and testing guidelines, and unclear regulatory pathways are barriers to clinical translation.
Slides:
