Leading Scientists Rethink How Medicine Can Approach Aging

Scientists are rethinking aging as a treatable process, with new therapies showing potential to extend healthy years and combat multiple diseases at once.

A landmark review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association explores new strategies to slow the biological processes of aging. This emerging field holds promise for preventing or delaying several chronic diseases at once, a challenge that remains one of the greatest hurdles in modern healthcare.

Authored by a team of leading researchers, the review was co-written by Steven R. Cummings, M.D., a senior physician-scientist at Sutter Health’s Sequoia Center for the Science of Aging and an internationally recognized expert in the field, and led by Stephen B. Kritchevsky, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The authors argue that medicine should move beyond addressing illnesses like cancer, kidney disease, or heart disease one by one and instead focus on the underlying biology of aging itself. This perspective, known as geroscience, seeks to increase “healthspan,” or the number of years people remain free from disease and disability.

Using geroscience to predict care outcomes

“By 2050, the number of U.S. adults over age 65 will grow by more than 30 million,” says Dr. Cummings. “If we continue treating one disease at a time, the U.S. health system will be overwhelmed. A geroscience approach could help people live longer, healthier lives by delaying or preventing multiple conditions at once.”

Geroscience focuses on a person’s biological age, measured by biological properties such as epigenetics, instead of one’s calendar age. Dr. Cummings and other scientists at Sutter’s San Francisco Coordinating Center (SFCC), led by Brian Chen, Ph.D., are testing geroscience principles in the care of Sutter patients. They are working to determine whether biological age, derived from fundamental pathways of aging, better predicts medical outcomes, including hospitalization, over one’s calendar age.

Testing existing, approved therapies to preserve health with aging

The review describes several promising therapies currently being studied, including metformin, a decades-old diabetes drug that may slow multiple aging-related processes; GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide, used for diabetes and obesity, which may mimic the effects of calorie restriction linked to longer life; and senolytics, a class of drugs that selectively clear senescent “zombie” cells that contribute to chronic inflammation and tissue damage.

While none of these therapies are yet U.S. FDA-approved to directly target aging, the authors note clinical trials are underway and could pave the way for new standards of care that preserve overall function and independence.

“Our research at the SFCC is studying pathways that can be modulated to potentially slow aging and promote a healthy lifespan for patients at Sutter and around the world,” says Dr. Cummings.

Reference: “Geroscience: A Translational Review” by Stephen B. Kritchevsky and Steven R. Cummings, 7 August 2025, JAMA.
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2025.11289

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