Spotlight: Leaders in Aging Well, Michael Clinton

We asked Primetime friend and my personal inspiration, Michael Clinton, to share an innovation in aging and longevity he is most excited about. Michael, the former President and Publishing Director of Hearst Magazines, founded ROAR forward in 2022 as a revolutionary insights and engagement engine to help companies build an age-ready workforce and connect with consumers aged 50+. Michael lives the longevity values he writes about in his best-selling books ROAR Into the Second Half of Your Life and Longevity Nation, just released this spring.

Purchase Longevity Nation here.

“The most exciting innovation that I discovered in interviewing over 70 longevity innovators is the convergence of medicine, technology, and AI. It is creating a remarkable moment in the pivot from reactive to preventative medicine. Diagnostics, wearables, new classes of drugs, including the miracle of the GLP-1, and precision medicine will create a future where the 100-year life will become normalized for humankind. The key is to make all of these new tools available to everyone for longer, healthier lives.”

— Michael Clinton

The redesigned Apple Health app now has a Longevity tab that analyzes a user’s longitudinal health data for deeper insights and recommends actions. The tab includes Health Age to map chronological age based on your personal data, which can be augmented with blood labs, including 50 key biomarkers, via a partnership with Quest Diagnostics for $119. In addition, the new Health Sensing System on Apple Watch Series 12 features new optical and electrical heart sensors that deliver the highest heart rate accuracy compared to other leading wearables.

A University of Illinois review of 18 clinical trials found structured mindfulness, gratitude-journaling, and optimism programs improved blood pressure, inflammation, and medication adherence in adults with cardiovascular risk within 8–12 weeks. Results were best when a daily five-minute practice was paired with a weekly guided session.

Calm is one of our favorite apps for gratitude journaling.

Peter Attia's team makes the case that low-dose vaginal estrogen is one of the most underused therapies in women's health: Across trials, it cuts recurrent urinary tract infections by roughly 60%, and in a new 2-million-woman analysis, users aged 55–69 were half as likely to be hospitalized for UTI and far less likely to develop sepsis, yet only about 21% of women in that age group get a prescription. If you have menopause-related symptoms or repeat UTIs, ask your clinician about topical estrogen.

New York-based Inspiren raised a $70M Series C led by NewView Capital at a $500M+ valuation — the largest round ever for senior-living-focused tech. Its AUGi room sensor detects falls and subtle behavior changes before they become emergencies; operators report 48–63% fewer falls and up to 73% fewer hospitalizations and ER visits.

Scan.com raised $220M — a $90M Series C led by Noteus Partners plus $130M in debt — to expand its US platform that matches patients to quality-checked imaging centers by availability, price, and subspecialty. More than 900,000 patients have used it to date.

Boston-based Elucid raised a $55M Series D (about $185M total) for Plaque-IQ, its FDA-cleared software that analyzes standard CT scans to characterize artery plaque so heart-attack and stroke prevention can be personalized.

Cova: An AI-run home care agency cutting the paperwork and cost of home care while helping family caregivers get paid through Medicaid, long-term care insurance, or private pay.

Gentreo: An AI-powered online estate planning platform helping families create, store, and update wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, and health care proxies in a secure digital vault for $150 the first year and $50 per year after that.

Illume Labs: A YC-backed $2.5M seed startup offering an AI health and longevity companion that fuses wearables, blood panels, and workouts into a text-based coach.

In a 549-person validation study, a test that amplifies trace amounts of misfolded amyloid-β distinguished Alzheimer's from cognitively healthy adults with 93% accuracy and separated it from other dementias. It is a diagnostic advance that represents one more step toward dementia diagnosis from a simple blood draw.

In an NIH-funded study, 20-month-old mice treated with semaglutide showed improved memory, muscle function, blood-sugar control, and reduced biological markers of aging, extending median lifespan by nearly 100 days. Compared to a 24% calorie-restricted diet, semaglutide improved spatial memory and blood sugar without slowing metabolic rate, suggesting GLP-1 drugs may act on aging through a distinct biological pathway, though clinical trials are needed to see if these benefits apply to humans.

In a new study published in Nature Biotechnology, researchers used AI to analyze data from a 2025 clinical trial of experimental lung-fibrosis drug Rentosertib and found that patients who took double doses of the drug had younger blood protein profiles across six different biological age clocks. These findings strengthen the case for investigating Rentosertib as a potential geroprotector and for using AI to incorporate biomarkers of aging into conventional clinical trials.

Alignment Health's fifth annual survey of more than 2,200 adults 65+ found that 90% face at least one social barrier to health or independence: 68% report aging-in-place challenges (up four points from last year), 54% cite economic instability, and 26% skipped needed medical care in the past year. What seniors say they want most: personalized wellness guidance (59%) and 24/7 telehealth (57%).

Pew Research found that 66% of adults 65+ are grandparents (51% of people in their 60s, and 27% in their 50s), with six grandchildren on average. Seventy percent of grandparents 65+ are in touch with a grandchild at least a few times a month, and 21% logged 100+ hours of grandchild care over two years.

AARP's summer survey of 2,065 adults 50+ found that economic need (48%) drives "unretirement" far more than boredom (18%). Among workers delaying retirement, 68% cite the higher cost of living, and 16% are delaying because they support adult children — double last year's share. Still, 71% of retirees say they retired at the right time.

Analysts report broad-based 2027 benefit reductions coming: UnitedHealthcare is dropping roughly 13% of its plans across 18 states, Humana expects exits affecting about 600,000 members, and nearly 70% of surveyed plans intend leaner benefits — dental, Part B givebacks, and drug cost-sharing all targeted. For you or a loved one, read your Annual Notice of Change closely and be ready to comparison-shop during open enrollment (October 15–December 7).

Medicare's 18-month GLP-1 Bridge pilot offers Wegovy, Zepbound, and oral Foundayo for $50 a month, but only to beneficiaries using them purely for weight loss. Anyone with a condition the drugs are FDA-approved to treat is routed back to their Part D plan's far higher copays. KFF estimates 3.8M people qualify while roughly 5.9M with qualifying conditions are excluded.