A newly published list of 2017’s top 50 “Influencers in Aging” includes Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and principal investigator with USC Stem Cell. The list appeared on the baby boomer-focused online news platform Next Avenue.

Next Avenue noted that Dean Cohen is a champion of “personalized aging,” a term he coined to describe an approach to aging that takes individual characteristics into account to customize prevention and treatment of age-related health issues. Cohen is a world-renowned researcher in the biology of aging, particularly in the science of mitochondrial peptides, and has authored hundreds of articles on health and aging.

At the USC Leonard Davis School, Cohen is also leading several new initiatives to translate research on personalized aging into tangible health benefits for older adults. He said he was honored by the Next Avenue recognition and added that he hopes it draws more attention to the need for what he calls a “twenty-first century approach” to aging.

“We know that none of us age in the same way. We can capitalize on the genomics revolution in order to provide personalized aging guidance instead of one-size-fits-all recommendations,” Cohen said. “While we’ve made enormous advances in extending lifespans in recent decades, we need to address how we can maximize health spans, or the portion of our lives that we spend in good health rather than in disability. Providing customized prevention and treatment will be key to increasing our healthy years.”