Valter Longo, Ph.D. is a leading expert in longevity and age-related diseases — with much of his groundbreaking work rooted in the study of a single-celled organism.
Longo serves as the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and the Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California-Leonard David School of Gerontology. His research focuses on aging and stems from work on yeast cells. He and his team identified genes that play a role in the aging process in yeast, which, when knocked out through genetic manipulation, increased the organism’s lifespan by inducing a fasting reaction. That discovery has led to a renowned dietary approach designed to combat aging and age-related diseases in humans.
Called “The Longevity Diet,” Longo’s model spawned a best-selling book translated into over 25 languages as well as research demonstrating reduced biological aging markers in those that follow the protocol. While diets are often studded with calorie-reduction directives, Longo’s work focuses on timing — when people should and shouldn’t eat to give the cells in their body a chance to shed. This process, autophagy, is central to his research on reducing the onset of age-related concerns, including cancer and cardiovascular disease and promoting longevity. And for Longo, this is personal: He is on the record as wanting to live to a healthy 120 or 130 years old.
Longo’s approach combines eating well — emphasizing legumes, fish, and vegetables — with strategic timing constraints that deprive the body of nutrients enough to trigger fasting responses. A 2024 study showed his fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) reduced weight, along with abdominal and liver fat, while boosting the lymphoid-to-myeloid ratio, which is linked to immune system age. Longo’s current research focuses on the effects of FMD on stem cell-based regeneration to promote longevity.
Longo is also the founder and president of the Creates Cures Foundation in Los Angeles and Fondazione Valter Longo in Italy. He was named by Time Magazine as one of healthcare’s 50 most influential people in 2018 and received the Glenn Foundation Award for Research on Aging. In addition to his bestselling book, he is the author of multiple titles, including his most recent, Fasting Cancer, published in February 2025.
We couldn’t be more excited to have Dr. Longo join our DOC 2025 Faculty and are thrilled to welcome him to our growing DOC community.