Centr, Lifespan.io Execs Talk Partnership, How To Make Aging Science Accessible
The Centr-Lifespan partnership aims to accelerate the development of effective interventions for age-related diseases and foster global wellness
Centr, the health and wellness app that provides personalized workout programs and meal plans inspired by Chris Hemsworth, has partnered with Lifespan.io to empower individuals with resources to live longer, happier and healthier lives.
Lifespan.io, founded in 2014 as the Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation, is dedicated to advancing longevity research and promoting awareness about the incredible advancements in science and medicine that enable individuals to live longer and healthier lives. The organization is passionate about educating the public on healthy aging and the latest rejuvenation science and longevity biotechnology, engaging scientists, investors, startups and the broader community to drive impactful initiatives.
By making longevity science and biotech accessible and comprehensible, Centr and Lifespan.io’s partnership aspires to accelerate the development of effective interventions for age-related diseases and foster a global community committed to longer and more fulfilling lives.
Athletech News spoke with Jerry Solomon, chief operating officer of Centr, and Stephanie Dainow, executive director of Lifespan.io, about the inspiration behind their partnership, its value in the market and the biggest misconceptions about longevity and aging.
The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Athletech News: Why did Centr and Lifespan.io decide to partner?
Jerry Solomon: At Centr, we believe in the power of interconnected wellness and know that today’s decisions impact tomorrow’s well-being. Finding a leading academic and science-based partner was something we always wanted.
As founder, Chris Hemsworth’s mission is to democratize health and wellness to help people live longer, happier and healthier lives. Upon connecting with Lifespan.io, we immediately realized the tremendous synergy and that their comprehensive information on rejuvenation science and longevity biotechnology provided the expert content we were looking for. From there, the partnership seamlessly developed, almost writing itself.
Stephanie Dainow: A partnership between Lifespan.io and Centr empowers both organizations to increase the reach of our combined messaging that people can live longer, healthier lives with incredible advances in science and medicine.
Our team was deeply moved by Chris’ story in the “Limitless” docuseries and how it showcased the power of interconnected fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness, with science as a core component. A natural alignment between Centr and Lifespan.io was clear to us.
Lifespan.io creates an unrivaled amount of content on topics related to health, longevity biotech, and rejuvenation science, all intended for expanded audiences. Sharing this information on Chris’ platform helps bridge a gap between the scientific community and general public.
We’re delighted that Centr is joining us on this transformative journey!
ATN: How does the partnership drive value in the market? What differentiates it from competitors’ alternatives?
JS: Through this partnership, both organizations want to foster an educated and passionate consumer when it comes to health and wellness. We are two sides of the same coin.
With Centr, we provide the means: movement, meals and mind. These are the pillars or daily habits that lend themselves to leading a happier, healthier and longer life. Lifespan.io provides something a bit different but with the same intention. Through Lifespan.io’s science-backed content authored by world-class experts who educate the public on healthy aging and the latest longevity research, members can leverage the motivation and reasons behind what they’re doing. It’s not what you do, but why you do it, which is equally as important, if not more so.
Together, Centr and Lifespan.io bring knowledge and action into one easily accessible ecosystem at scale. It completes the wellness circle. No one else is talking about it or going about it quite in this way.
ATN: What is the biggest misconception about longevity and aging?
JS: That longevity and aging connotes delaying death when it’s really about prolonging quality of life.
Another misconception is that only those who are over 40 care or think about longevity as they start to consider their own mortality. Younger people may not think about longevity in those terms but they do think about health, especially mental well-being, which is a key factor in longevity.
SD: Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions out there! (see here). But here’s one of the most important ones: we’ve spent thousands of years thinking that aging is mysterious, inevitable and always comes with suffering.
Today’s advances in science and medicine are showing us that this thinking is wrong. Lifespan’s mission is to help people understand that research taking place right now is setting the stage for a future in which aging does not necessarily equate to declining health.
If we recognize that aging is a set of biological processes that we can understand and modify, then we can address the root causes, and more effectively prevent and treat many aging-related diseases simultaneously (Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer).
Longevity science and biotech is not only about fighting against death. It’s about living longer, healthier and happier lives with the people we love, which we can do when we have access to the right information.
ATN: How do longevity and aging tie into Lifespan and Centr’s overall goals and mission?
JS: The science proves that adopting a lifestyle that prioritizes well-being leads to better mental health, stronger relationships and greater productivity. These are all values Centr strives to incorporate in everything we do and no one embodies and substantiates these beliefs better than Lifespan.io.
SD: Lifespan.io’s initial mission was focused on educating the public, showing how the “science fiction” of slowing or even reversing biological aging was turning into “science fact”. We knew that creating a productive dialogue around this topic would be paramount to bringing talent, resources and funding to achieving further insights into the biology of aging. Those insights would eventually underpin a growing set of approaches to slow, halt or perhaps even reverse the aging processes. Since then, the organization has branched out into a variety of initiatives to support the field of aging research and biotech development, but Lifespan.io has not forgotten its roots in engaging the public and has become a trusted international resource for reliable information about the science behind our current understanding of the biology of aging.
Public interest in longevity biotech is crucial. When we believe that we can live longer and healthier, we can advocate for our healthcare systems and governments to prioritize healthy aging opportunities. When younger generations see that there is real biomedical technology behind today’s longevity research, they can pursue longevity-inspired careers—maybe as a scientist, or as a business founder, or perhaps as a leader who understands that longer lives will translate into a very different future. When individuals and organizations can directly donate to fund longevity research through Lifespan.io, they know that they are donating to positive change.
For example, cancer used to be a pariah disease. It’s hard to imagine now, but decades ago, cancer was talked about in whispers and the very idea of “solving” it was absurd. At Lifespan.io, we take inspiration from the early cancer research advocates and how the community they built changed that perspective and rallied the general public around the previously unthinkable goal of curing and preventing cancer.
We believe that we can support and create the same kind of mindset shift for aging and aging-related diseases.