After careful consideration, I have renounced my membership in the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (@ahlresearch). I find it deeply distressing that we’ve gotten to a point where dishonesty in science is normalized to an extent that nobody is shocked when a tenured @Harvard professor falsely proclaims in a press release that a product he is selling to pet owners has “reversed aging in dogs”. To me, this is the textbook definition of snake oil salesman. Perhaps I’m being naïve in expecting that scientists should be held to a higher standard. I went into a career in scientific research as an idealistic young man who wanted to make discoveries to improve the world and help people. That idealism still fuels me today, although much has been lost along the way and replaced by realism, which I strive to keep from becoming cynicism. I do believe we can and should demand, at a minimum, honesty and integrity from our scientific leaders. I have renounced my membership in the Academy due to ongoing behavior by Academy President Dr. David Sinclair that I find both personally and professionally unacceptable. While I can’t control how others will behave, I choose not to associate with individuals or organizations that do not align with my core values.

This is not theoretical. This is happening RIGHT NOW. It’s time to get to work on aging. It’s an emergency.