Scientific Board

Our growing Scientific Advisory Board is composed of acclaimed scientists with multidisciplinary skills.


Giovanni Scapagnini

Giovanni Scapagnini President, Scientific Board, Orgaia

Giovanni Scapagnini is the co-founder of Orgaia and President of our scientific board.

Giovanni Scapagnini is the co-founder of Orgaia and President of our scientific board.

His fields of research concentrate on biology and molecular mechanisms of aging and neurodegenerative disorders, with particular focus on nutrient activated signaling pathways related to lifespan regulation. He has organized 8 international congresses on the theme of “cellular stress response” and “biology of aging processes.” In addition, he has been an invited speaker to more than 100 national and international congresses.

Professor Scapagnini, graduated in 1992 from the School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Catania, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Neurobiology in 2000. He has also worked as a Visiting Scientist with the Department of Surgical Research, Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, Harrow, UK (1999), and with the Laboratory of Adaptive Systems, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Health in Bethesda, M.D., USA (2000). Dr. Scapagnini has been a Research Assistant Professor at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, West Virginia University of John Hopkins University, Rockville, MD. from 2000 to 2003 and Research Assistant Professor at the Institute of Neurological Sciences, Italian National Research Council, from 2003 to 2006. Since 2004 he has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD.

Currently he holds an academic position as Associate Professor of Clinical biochemistry, at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Molise, Campobasso. Since 2013, he has held the title of president of the scientific board of the Inter-University Consortium Sanniotech. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Society of Nutraceuticals SINUT (www.sinut.it). Dr. Scapagnini is co-author of more than 90 publications and book chapters of neuroscience and nutrition, biogerontology, pharmacology and molecular biology (scopus H-index 31). He is also co-author of 11 patents in the fields of medical devices and therapeutic compounds. He is collaborating with several laboratories, both in the EU and internationally; and is a peer reviewer for 10 of the most important scientific journals, and a member of the editorial board of the scientific journal “Biogerontology.”


Dr Craig Willcox, Ph.D.

Dr Craig Willcox, Ph.D. Expert in Healthy Ageing and Gerontology

Internationally recognized expert in healthy aging and cross-cultural gerontology with training in medical anthropology, gerontology and public health sciences.

Prof Donald Craig Willcox MD

Donald Craig Willcox, Ph.D. is Professor of International Public Health and Gerontology at Okinawa International University in Okinawa, Japan. Dr. Willcox is a fluent speaker of Japanese and has extensive cross-national experience in bio-cultural approaches to healthy aging, epidemiology, human nutrition and human population genetics. He is Co-Principal Investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian study, a 30-plus year, ongoing study of the genetic and environmental correlates of exceptional longevity that identified the first gene to be associated with human longevity (Takata et al. Lancet 1987) and numerous lifestyle factors important to healthy aging. He also has a long and successful track record of collaborative research with other studies on healthy aging around the world such as the Honolulu Heart Program, and the Kuakini Hawaii Lifespan Study, the study that first identified the association (since replicated in many other populations) of the FOXO3 gene with healthy aging and longevity in humans (Willcox et al. PNAS, 2008).

Professor Willcox has been successful in establishing cross-cultural research collaborations through the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging as well as projects supported by national funding agencies in Japan, such as the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences, among other sources. He currently serves as a research consultant for the NIA-funded Hawaii Lifespan Study and Hawaii Health span Study. Both of these studies, and the Okinawa Centenarian Study are large, long term clinical epidemiologic studies of healthy aging with long track records of cross national research that possess the necessary experience and infrastructure to carry forward innovative projects in the area of healthy and successful aging.

Professor Willcox is a member of several academic societies devoted to research on aging such as the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG). He has also been an invited participant at numerous international workshops that have focused upon identifying priorities in aging research such as the recent FUTURAGE workshop (Roadmap for Aging Research in the E.U.), and contributes as Associate Editor to numerous journals devoted to research on aging, such as Journals of Gerontology: Biological and Medical Sciences (GSA), Gerontology (International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics), BMC Geriatrics, Rejuvenation Research, and Mechanisms of Aging and Disease (Nature Publishing Group), among others. He recently guest edited a special issue on centenarian studies and their contribution to our understanding of the aging process and longevity, published in Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research.

Professor Willcox has several nominations for Who`s Who in Healthcare and Medicine in the past several years and has written two best-selling books (The Okinawa Program and The Okinawa Diet Plan) on healthy aging and longevity that translate his research findings into practical public health programs. The Okinawa Program was nominated for Best Wellness Book of the Year by Books for a Better Life and received further honors from both Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles as one of their Top Fifty Books of the Year for 2001. He also consults regularly for industry having recently consulted for Chanel, VHI Healthcare (largest private health provider in Ireland) and other well-known industry leaders in healthcare and anti-aging.

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