About

Dr. Michael Fossel, MD, PhD
Chairman of the Board, Telocyte

Dr. Michael Fossel, born in Greenwich, Connecticut, is an author, physician, and recognized expert in aging and telomere biology. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Telocyte, a biotechnology company developing telomerase therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, with planned FDA-sponsored human trials aimed at targeting the underlying disease process.

Dr. Fossel earned his BA (cum laude) and MA in psychology from Wesleyan University before completing his PhD in Neurobiology (1978) and MD (1981) at Stanford University, where he was awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship, taught neuroanatomy, and conducted experimental design. He is a graduate of the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy. For nearly three decades, he served as Clinical Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University. He taught the biology of aging at several universities and focused on aging and age-related disease from a medical and scientific perspective, with a particular emphasis on premature aging syndromes such as progeria.

Dr. Fossel is best known for his views on telomerase therapy as a possible treatment for cellular senescence and human age-related diseases. He has published numerous articles and studies, including work in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and In Vivo. His 2020 article, “A Unified Model of Dementias and Age-related Neurodegeneration” (published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia), generated significant global interest with more than 1,000 reprint requests, presenting both a comprehensive understanding of dementia causation and novel therapeutic approaches. He has authored over 100 scientific articles, chapters, and books. His major academic and trade books include:

  • Reversing Human Aging (William Morrow & Co., 1996) – An international bestseller that garnered favorable reviews from mainstream newspapers as well as Scientific American and has been published in six languages.

  • Cells, Aging, and Human Disease (Oxford University Press, 2004) – A comprehensive academic text featuring over 4,000 references, examining telomere biology and cellular senescence across multiple age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, and cancer.

  • Electronic Health Records: Strategies for Long-Term Success (Health Administration Press, 2013).

  • The Telomerase Revolution (BenBella Books, 2015) – Explores telomerase therapy as an intervention for age-related diseases, recognized by both The London Times and the Wall Street Journal as among the best science books of the year, and published in eight languages across eleven global editions.

  • Aging: How Aging Works, How We Can Reverse Aging, and Prospects for Curing Aging Diseases (Elsevier Publishing, 2024) – Editor and senior author, with distinguished co-authors from leading institutions including Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, UCSF, and universities across three continents.

  • Reversal: Science, Medicine, and a Future Beyond Aging – His latest book, exploring the causes of aging, their translation of cellular science to human clinical trials, and the profound social implications of curing age-related diseases.

  • Aging and Age-Reversal: The Prospects for Curing Age-Related Diseases (World Scientific, forthcoming) – Editor and senior author, with coauthors from academic institutions around the world.

Dr. Fossel has appeared on major news programs including Good Morning America, National Public Radio (NPR), as well as numerous other podcasts and video forums. He gave the first invited lecture on aging reversal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has lectured at Harvard Business School on biotechnology and age-related diseases, as well as lecturing at other universities and medical conferences globally. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Rejuvenation Research, and served as the executive director of the American Aging Association.