Joseph A. Baur, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Physiology and the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, as well as Director of the Rodent Metabolic Phenotyping Core at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. His long-term interest is in the basic mechanisms that lead to aging, which is a critical risk factor for the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the western world, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. After completing his undergraduate degree in Canada, he travelled to UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, to pursue his PhD studies on human telomere biology. For his postdoctoral studies, he moved to Harvard Medical School to study sirtuin enzymes, which use NAD+ to alter post-translational modifications and have been hypothesized to play a role in aging. The Baur lab is currently focused on the use of small molecules to understand and mimic the health-promoting effects of dietary manipulations in rodents, with a particular focus on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) metabolism. 

Dr. Miller received a PhD from UC-Berkeley and completed a post-doc at the Muscle Research Center in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is currently G.T. Blankenship Chair in Aging Research and Department Chair of the Aging and Metabolism Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). Dr. Miller’s expertise is in skeletal muscle, aging, mitochondria, stable isotope labeling, proteostasis, and drug and lifestyle (primarily exercise) interventions. His work with tracers and in muscle aging is nationally recognized and has led to many collaborations, extensive mentoring, and leadership positions. Dr. Miller’s work is almost exclusively focused on prolonging the period spent in good health (i.e., healthspan) by targeting mitochondrial energetics and proteostatic maintenance. The Miller lab is truly translational, with studies spanning pre-clinical models, clinical trials, and back. The Miller lab has focused on training the next generation of scientists, and many from the lab have gone on to their own exceptional careers