Could we live healthy to 120? | Joshua Hare | TEDxMiami

Summary

Joshua Hare argues that medicine may be entering a new “geroscience” or “aging” paradigm: studying age-related changes across the body and developing treatments that improve not only lifespan but also healthspan—the years spent in good health.

He compares this possibility with the impact of germ theory. Recognizing that microorganisms cause disease led to practices such as handwashing, improved surgery, and antibiotics. These advances greatly reduced deaths during childbirth and helped raise average life expectancy. Hare suggests that understanding and treating the biology of aging could bring a similarly important shift.

One potential target is the body’s stem-cell reserves. These cells help maintain organs, repair tissues, and replace dying cells, but their reserves diminish with age. Hare describes Longeveron’s investigational cell product, Lomacel-B, which is made by growing cells from a healthy donor in a laboratory. Some scientists call these cells “medicinal signaling cells.”

In an early Longeveron study involving older adults with frailty:

• Frailty was assessed in part with the six-minute walk test.
• Participants who received Lomacel-B reportedly increased the distance they could walk over nine months.
• Participants who received a placebo reportedly declined. By nine months, the difference between the groups was nearly the length of a football field.

Hare presents this as promising research, not as proof that the treatment can reverse aging. He also points to CAR-T therapy, a cell-based cancer treatment, as an existing example of cells being used as medicine.

Finally, Hare says scientists estimate that average human longevity could reach 120–125 years by the end of the century. He emphasizes that the goal should be to extend healthy years, not simply lengthen life.

Researchers and Sources Featured

• Joshua Hare — Cardiologist and speaker who discusses the research and Longeveron.
• Longeveron — The company that developed and studied Lomacel-B.
• Aubrey de Grey — Aging researcher quoted as saying that the first person to live to 150 has already been born.
• CAR-T therapy — Cited as an example of cells being used as medicine.