Michael B. Fossel, M.D., Ph.D. (born 1950,

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

) is a former professor of

clinical medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

and is the author of several books on aging, who is best known for his views on

telomerase Telomerase, also called terminal transferase, is a ribonucleoprotein that adds a species-dependent telomere repeat sequence to the 3' end of telomeres. A telomere is a region of repetitive sequences at each end of the chromosomes of most euka ...

therapy as a possible treatment for

cellular senescence Cellular senescence is a phenomenon characterized by the cessation of cell division. In their experiments during the early 1960s, Leonard Hayflick and Paul Moorhead found that normal human fetal fibroblasts in culture reach a maximum of approxi ...

. Fossel has appeared on many major news programs to discuss

aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

and has appeared regularly on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

(NPR). He is also a respected lecturer, author, and the founder and former editor-in-chief of the ''

Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine ''Rejuvenation Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Mary Ann Liebert that covers research on rejuvenation and biogerontology. The journal was established in 1998. The current acting editor-in-chief is Ben Zealle ...

'' (now known as ''

Rejuvenation Research ''Rejuvenation Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Mary Ann Liebert that covers research on rejuvenation and biogerontology. The journal was established in 1998. The current acting editor-in-chief is Ben Zealley. ...

'').

Prior to earning his M.D. at Stanford Medical School, Fossel earned a joint B.A. (cum laude) and M.A. in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

and a Ph.D. in neurobiology at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He is also a graduate of

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

. Prior to graduating from medical school in 1981, he was awarded a

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

fellowship and taught at Stanford University. In addition to his position at Michigan State University, Fossel has lectured at the

National Institute for Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, and at various other universities and institutes in various parts of the world. Fossel served on the board of directors for the American Aging Association and was their executive director. Fossel has written numerous articles on

and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

for the

Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...

and ''In Vivo'', and his first book, entitled ''Reversing Human Aging'' was published in 1996. The book garnered favorable reviews from mainstream newspapers as well as

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

. A magisterial academic textbook by Fossel entitled ''Cells, Aging, and Human Disease'' was published in 2004 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. In 2015, he published "The Telomerase Revolution", which was lauded by both the Wall Street Journal and The London Times as one of the best science books of the year. To date, he has published more than 100 articles, chapters, and books on clinical medicine and age-related disease. Elsevier Publishing has contracted him to write and edit an updated textbook on the aging process, reversing cell aging, and the prospects for curing age-related disease, which is due out in 2024. Since his days as a teacher at Stanford University, Fossel has studied aging from a medical and scientific perspective with a particular emphasis on premature aging syndromes such as progeria, and since at least 1996, when he gave the first talk at the NIH on the topic, he has been a strong and vocal advocate of telomerase therapy as a potential treatment of age-related

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s, disorders, and syndromes such as progeria,

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

, atherosclerosis,

osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility, and consequent increase in fracture risk. It is the most common reason for a broken bone ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, and other age-related diseases. However, he is careful to qualify his advocacy of telomerase therapy as being a potential treatment for these conditions rather than a "cure for old age" and a panacea for age-related medical conditions, albeit a potential treatment that could radically extend the maximum human life span and reset the aging process in most people.

External links

Michael Fossel's website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossel, Michael 1950 births Living people American scientists Michigan State University faculty Biogerontologists Life extensionists People from Greenwich, Connecticut Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Wesleyan University alumni Stanford University School of Medicine alumni