Voices · 14 min read

Eight voices shaping pet longevity.

PETVITY didn't invent this field. We're standing on the shoulders of researchers, veterinarians and operators who've spent decades doing the actual science. These are eight of them — real people, real work, the people we follow, cite, and are inviting to the Monaco Summit.

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PETVITY Editorial
Published May 9, 2026 · Zürich

Pet longevity isn't a brand category. It's a research field that's been quietly maturing for two decades and is now in the same place human longevity was around 2010 — moving from academic curiosity into consumer translation. The people below are why that's happening.

Some are scientists running multi-decade cohort studies. Some are veterinarians who quietly built integrative practices before the term existed. Some are operators turning the research into actual products and protocols. We've reached out to or are reaching out to all of them. Several have already agreed to speak at our Monaco Summit in September 2026.

"You can't lead a field. You can only be a clean translator of the people who built it."

The scientists

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Dr. Matt Kaeberlein

Geroscientist · University of Washington

Co-director of the Dog Aging Project — the largest longitudinal study of canine aging ever attempted, with tens of thousands of enrolled dogs across the US. His lab pioneered rapamycin research in dogs (the TRIAD study). Founder of Optispan, translating geroscience into clinical practice. He's the most credible voice in the field bridging academic geroscience and applied pet longevity.

dogagingproject.org →
Why he matters to PETVITY: his work is foundational evidence that pet longevity is a real, measurable, intervenable thing. We cite his epigenetic-clock and rapamycin work in our courses. Inviting him to keynote the Monaco Summit.
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Dr. Daniel Promislow

Evolutionary biologist · University of Washington

Co-director of the Dog Aging Project alongside Kaeberlein. His expertise is the comparative biology of aging — why dogs of different breeds age at radically different rates, what that tells us about the genetics of aging, and how those mechanisms map (or don't) onto human aging.

dogagingproject.org →
Why he matters: the breed-specific aging work is exactly the kind of nuance pet owners need. A Border Collie does not age the way a Bernese Mountain Dog does. Promislow's research makes that scientific.
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Dr. Steven Austad

Professor of biology · University of Alabama at Birmingham

One of the founding figures in comparative aging biology. His decades of work on naked mole rats, opossums, and longevity across species gave the field its theoretical foundation. Author of Why We Age and Methuselah's Zoo. Senior scientific advisor to the American Federation for Aging Research.

UAB profile →
Why he matters: the cross-species view. PETVITY supports dogs, cats and horses — Austad's framework explains why each ages so differently and what that means for care.

The operators

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Celine Halioua

Founder & CEO · Loyal

Building Loyal — a biotech taking longevity drugs through formal FDA approval pathways for dogs (LOY-001, LOY-002 are on the regulatory road). The first commercial attempt to translate geroscience into approved canine therapeutics. She is the operator the field has been waiting for: scientifically rigorous, regulatorily ambitious, and deeply public about the work.

loyalfordogs.com →
Why she matters: Loyal makes longevity-for-pets a real category, not a wellness niche. PETVITY is the consumer experience layer; Loyal is the pharmaceutical layer. We're complementary.
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Kelly Diehl, DVM, MS, DACVIM

Senior Director, Science Communication · Morris Animal Foundation

Veterinary internist and science communicator. The Morris Animal Foundation runs the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study — a 3,000-dog longitudinal cohort tracking health, behavior, environment and outcomes for the entire life of each dog. The closest thing pets have to the Framingham Heart Study.

morrisanimalfoundation.org →
Why she matters: long-form, longitudinal data is what turns "wellness ideas" into "actionable medicine." Diehl is the public face of the most ambitious dataset the field has.

The veterinarians

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Dr. Karen Becker, DVM, CVA

Integrative wellness veterinarian · author

One of the most-followed integrative veterinarians worldwide. Her decades of work translating species-appropriate nutrition, environmental enrichment and integrative care to mainstream pet owners predates the modern pet-longevity movement by twenty years. Co-author of The Forever Dog with Rodney Habib (NYT bestseller, 2021).

drkarenbecker.com →
Why she matters: the bridge between academic geroscience and the real lives of pet owners. Her communication style is exactly the model we aim for.
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Rodney Habib

Pet health journalist · co-author of The Forever Dog

The most influential lay communicator in pet longevity. The Forever Dog (2021) and its 2024 follow-up The Forever Dog Life have done more to bring concepts like fasting windows, the gut-brain axis, and species-appropriate nutrition into ordinary households than any other source. His Pet Fooled documentary and Planet Paws community reach millions.

planetpaws.ca →
Why he matters: he has done the consumer-translation work better than almost anyone. We aspire to that standard.

The PETVITY editorial board

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Dr. Sarah Vogt, DVM

Medical Advisor · PETVITY

Integrative veterinarian based in Zürich. Reviewed every clinical claim in our Knowledge Hub, the Pet Longevity Essentials course, and our supplement formulations. Trained in conventional veterinary medicine at Vetsuisse, with additional certifications in functional nutrition and behavioral medicine. She represents the practical bridge between research and your kitchen counter.

Read our interview with Dr. Vogt →
Why she matters to PETVITY: she is the reason every word in our content is responsibly anchored. No claim ships without her review.

Why this list

Pet longevity is small enough as a field that everyone serious about it can fit in one Monaco ballroom in September. That's exactly what we're trying to do. The Monaco Summit is the moment we want to bring these voices into one room — researchers, veterinarians, operators, and the founders who care most.

We don't claim to have invented anything. We're trying to be the cleanest translator of what these people know — into protocols owners can actually run, products vets can actually trust, and a measurable score that turns all of it into something a normal person can track over time.

If you're one of these people and we haven't reached out yet — please do. contact us.

Disclosure: profiles are editorial. We have not paid any of these individuals for inclusion. Several have agreed in principle to speak at the Monaco Summit; others are still in conversation. Affiliations and roles current as of May 2026.

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