David Sinclair
David Sinclair, A.O., Ph.D. is a Professor of Genetics at the Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, and Co-Chief Editor of the journal Aging.
Dr. Sinclair did his Ph.D. studying genetics in yeast, identifying the first intragenic promoter elements in eukaryotes, for which he was awarded the the CSL and The Commonwealth Prizes. A Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship allowed him to leave Australia to work with Lenny Guarente at M.I.T. from 2005-2009, where he co-discovered a cause of aging in yeast, a first in any organism, and deciphered the role of sirtuin genes in the aging process. At 29, he was recruited to Harvard Medical School and shortly thereafter became Founding Director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for Aging Research, a group that includes four labs at Harvard and a consortium of 11 universities. He has published 200+ papers, is an inventor on over 60 patents, and has been cited 97,000+ times with an h-index impact score of 114.
Dr. Sinclair’s research is focused primarily on understanding genes that fight disease and aging, with a focus on treating the major causes of death and disability. He studies cellular energy production, learning and memory, neurodegeneration, cancer, and inflammation. More recently his work has branched out to understand why we age and how to reverse it. He has directly mentored over 100 scientists over the past 20 years and won awards for mentorship and teaching. He supports non-profit organizations and has cofounded and/or invested in 20 biotechnology companies. See https://genetics.med.harvard.edu/sinclair/people/sinclair-other.php. He was the founding Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biological Mechanisms of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School from 2005-2023.
He is founding Editor of the journal Aging, and has received 38 awards including the CSL Prize, The Australian Commonwealth Prize, a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Award, a Leukemia Society Fellowship, a Ludwig Scholarship, a Harvard-Armenise Fellowship, an American Federation for Aging Research Fellowship, The Nathan Shock Award from NIH, Scholarships from The Ellison Medical Foundation, The Merck Prize, the Genzyme Outstanding Achievement in Biomedical Science Award, a “Bio-Innovator award,” the David Murdock-Dole Lectureship, the Fisher Honorary Lectureship at UCLA, MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging, the Denham Harman Award for Gerontological Research, the “ASMR Medal” from the Australian Society for Medical Research, a Knowledge Nation 100 Recipient, an Ambassador of Business Events, Sydney, the USC Kersten lecturer, the Westin Lecture, a Pioneer Award from the Director of the NIH, Advance Global Australian Award, the Irving Wright AFAR Award of Distinction for Excellence in Aging Research, and the Clive McKay Award in Aging Research, and is an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). In 2014, Professor Sinclair was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People In The World and in 2018 as Top 50 in Healthcare, and he is the co-author of the New York Times and international bestseller Lifespan.