Listen to this episode of Longevity by Design on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Ronjon explains how systems thinking helps us look at health and aging as complex problems. He shows how real, measurable data, like blood biomarkers and wearable feedback, can guide smart decisions and cut through confusing health advice. He also shares how AI is becoming as common as spreadsheets in the workplace, helping both patients and scientists organize and connect data from many sources.
The conversation moves to how AI could power new approaches to drug discovery, personal health insights, and even vaccines for aging. Ronjon offers clear examples of progress and challenges, highlighting why a data-driven, interdisciplinary approach matters for living longer and healthier lives.
💡 Name: Dr. Ronjon Nag
💡 What he does: Adjunct Professor in Genetics
💡 Company: Stanford School of Medicine, and the R42 Group
💡 Noteworthy: Known for bridging artificial intelligence, genetics, and entrepreneurship to advance personalized health, drug discovery, and longevity science.
💡 Where to find him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronjonnag
Episode highlights:
[00:00:00]: Introduction
[00:02:48]: Personal journey from engineering to AI and medicine
[00:06:40]: Lifelong learning and transition to teaching longevity science
[00:08:03]: Data science and AI in healthcare decision-making
[00:09:54]: Applying financial risk models to medical innovation
[00:11:52]: Venture investing in AI and longevity science
[00:13:29]: Inventing in aging, eye disease, and AI-driven life sciences
[00:15:48]: Impact of AI on the job market and computer science careers
[00:16:26]: Systems thinking in health and aging
[00:18:06]: Causation, correlation, and evidence in lifestyle science
[00:21:00]: Wearables, self-tracking, and feedback loops in health
[00:23:31]: Continuous health monitoring and behavioral change
[00:25:12]: Blood biomarkers as objective health feedback
[00:27:15]: AI’s future impact on biology, aging research, and lifespan
[00:29:03]: Language models, context windows, and the nature of AI intelligence
[00:32:03]: Empathy, ambition, and programming values into AI
[00:34:39]: Guardrails, regulation, and global risks of AI
[00:36:41]: Real-world applications of AI in health and longevity today
[00:39:13]: Integrating fragmented health data and building digital twins
[00:43:23]: Modeling human biology and the future of digital twins
[00:46:36]: AI limitations, hallucinations, and learning from mistakes
[00:48:14]: Risks and limitations of AI in healthcare and medicine
[00:51:13]: AI as collaborator for patients, clinicians, and scientists
[00:55:32]: Longevity ventures: vaccine for aging and food-based GLP-1
[01:09:38]: Fast food, processed foods, and public health
[01:10:03]: Rapid-fire: daily habits, overhyped interventions, and final advice
[01:16:59]: Closing remarks and episode wrap-up
Key Insights
AI and Health Data: From Siloes to Smart Decisions
Health data often lives in separate silos, your wearable, your doctor’s office, your diet app. The real power emerges when you connect these sources into a single, clear picture. With the right tools, you can break down barriers between your blood tests, fitness trackers, and lifestyle logs. This approach helps you spot patterns, catch early warning signs, and make smarter choices about your health. AI can bridge gaps, flag changes, and even translate complex data into plain advice. The key is not just having more data, but making it useful. When you see your information side by side, you can act on it, adjust your habits, try new routines, and see how your choices really affect your body. That’s how data goes from noise to a true guide for living healthier, longer.
System Thinking Makes Longevity Personal
Aging and health aren’t simple. They’re woven from many threads, nutrition, exercise, stress, relationships, and more. Systems thinking means looking at the whole web, not just single strands. When you view health as a network of causes and effects, you see why one-size-fits-all advice falls short. For example, a habit like daily running has ripple effects: it builds strength, supports heart health, but also takes time from work or family. The best choices balance these tradeoffs. Systems thinking also guards against quick fixes and misleading headlines. Instead of chasing the latest trend, you can focus on what moves the needle for your unique mix of risks and goals. This mindset helps you adapt, find balance, and make decisions that fit your real life, not someone else’s.
AI Is a Collaborator, Not a Replacement
AI is changing how we approach science, medicine, and daily health, but it’s not a magic answer. Think of it as a collaborator, a tool that works with you, not instead of you. In health, AI can sort through huge amounts of research, suggest options, or flag issues you might miss. But it still needs your judgment, your values, and your goals to make the right call. For patients, AI can help you become more informed and confident. For professionals, it can save time and surface new insights. The best results come from a partnership: humans asking good questions, AI offering possibilities, and both working together to find what works. This approach keeps progress grounded, safe, and tailored to each person, especially as technology keeps moving fast.
The Roots of Modern AI and Its Ongoing Evolution
The conversation opens with a look at how artificial intelligence has grown from niche research in the 1980s to a driver of today’s innovation. Early neural network models were met with skepticism, but now form the basis of most modern AI. This history shows that fields thought to be “solved” often have decades of progress ahead. The scientific roots of AI stretch across engineering, psychology, and mathematics, reminding us that progress comes from blending insights across disciplines. The evolving definition of AI also underscores how quickly today’s breakthrough can become tomorrow’s baseline.
“My first AI system, I built it in 1983. I’ve been working in AI for 40 years at this point. And believe it or not, we’ve still got another 40 years to go. People always think we’ve finished, but we haven’t.”
Why Risk and Finance Matter in Medical Innovation
Innovation in medicine isn’t just about science; it’s about managing risk. Drug discovery and new therapies are expensive because the odds of success are low. By borrowing concepts from finance, like portfolio theory, you can spread risk across projects, much like diversifying investments. This approach lets more ideas get tested and helps promising breakthroughs reach patients. Understanding the costs and probabilities behind new treatments gives you a clearer picture of why some medical advances move faster than others.
“Medicine is expensive. Why is it expensive? It’s because it’s risky. In finance, we actually have ways to deal with risk. It’s called portfolio theory. The reason medicine doesn’t get done, and these new ideas don’t get done, is because they’re expensive, they’re risky, and the idea is: can you actually do projects?”
The Promise and Challenge of a Vaccine for Aging
The idea of a vaccine for aging sounds bold, but it’s grounded in science’s ability to target the root causes of age-related diseases. By training the immune system to clear out malfunctioning cells before they cause harm, this approach could address multiple diseases at once. The challenge is proving effectiveness without waiting decades and doing it in a way that avoids harming healthy cells. This “moonshot” blends biology, AI, and entrepreneurship, pushing the boundaries of what prevention could mean for future generations.
“What we are trying to do is make a vaccine. A vaccine for what? A vaccine for aging. What does that mean? Does that stop aging? Does that reverse aging? … So we found a set of peptides that can essentially train the immune system to clear out bad cells as soon as they appear. And so that’s the idea behind that.”
Running: The Most Efficient Habit for Healthspan
Sometimes, the simplest habits have the biggest payoff. Running stands out as a time-efficient way to support heart health, build muscle, and counteract the effects of aging. Even ten minutes of running can give you more benefits than a much longer walk, especially as you get older. Consistency matters more than intensity or distance. Pairing running with other habits, like stretching or yoga, helps you stay flexible and avoid injury. The real secret is making movement a daily part of your routine.
“Running. It’s the most time-efficient exercise if you can run. One of the problems with running is that you can get injured, but even if you’re overweight, it’s literally the most time-efficient exercise you can possibly do. Ten minutes of running is better than 90 minutes of walking because you get your heart rate higher, which you will never get walking. So that’s what I would do. Try to do some running, even if it’s just a few minutes.”
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