MEDIA, Pa., Feb. 13 -- Denham Harman, MD, PhD, FACP, FAAA, and the father of the free radical theory of aging, will turn 90 on Tuesday, February 14, 2006.  But that won't stop him from continuing to work each day as Professor Emeritus at his office at the University of Nebraska School of Medicine in Omaha, and to continue to point out the importance of aging research for all of us.  Could it be the antioxidants?

Dr. Harman's theory that highly reactive molecules known as free radicals may explain aging, and his research indicating that antioxidants may retard aging and age-related diseases, have probably influenced more research on aging than any other theory to date.  Free radicals are made in the body mostly as unintended side effects of metabolism, and can start chain reactions of indiscriminate damage.  But Harman showed that feeding mice antioxidants could extend their lifespans by up to 45%.

Harman's immense contribution to biomedical aging research has earned him international acclaim and repeated nominations for the Nobel Prize.  His work and theories have also been the inspiration for much popular interest in
ameliorating the effects of aging, helping to drive the creation of a multi-billion dollar market in antioxidant vitamins and nutrients and creating a basis for many popular books on aging and life extension.

There is no doubt today that free radicals and oxidative stress play major roles in diseases such as cancer and heart disease as well as in aging itself, but when Harman originally proposed his theory in 1954, his idea was so "radical" and so novel that it required many years to catch on.

Dr. Harman founded the American Aging Association in 1970 to promote biomedical aging research aimed at understanding and blunting aging and to disseminate the benefits of this research to the scientific community, to doctors, and to the general public.  The Association remains to this day the primary scientific society for research on the biology of aging and the application of knowledge about aging to improving the lives of Americans.

Dr. Harman earned his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California and his M.D. from Stanford University.

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