Aging Institute

The Aging Institute (AI), directed by Toren Finkel, MD, PhD, is a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC. The Institute occupies newly renovated state-of-the-art facilities with a footprint of some 22,000 square feet. Among the Aging Institute’s initiatives are efforts to identify signaling pathways and therapies that target the process of aging with the ultimate goal of extending heath span to achieve a long life, free of disease. Another major initiative of the Aging Institute will be the development of drugs that will enhance fundamental resilience to age and prevent age-related complications, such as atherosclerosis, lung fibrosis and neurodegenerative diseases. By illuminating the root causes of the diseases that we associate with aging, be they cardiovascular disease, cancer or many neurodegenerative disorders, we can address them in their appropriate biological context: aging itself.