Live long and prosper: Dawn Mussallem

There seems to be no limit to the power of AI. Take its latest conquest: the frontier of human health and longevity. Better living is possible, thanks to AI-powered tests and analysis, and the companies driving this wellness revolution have found themselves truly at the cutting edge.

Certainly that’s the case at Fountain Life, a leading longevity and healthspan company. Counting entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and motivational legend Tony Robbins among its co-founders, the company is using the latest AI innovations to detect, optimize and restore human health in a way that’s proactive rather than reactive.

And as its Chief Medical Officer Dawn Mussallem tells The CEO Magazine, the journey toward a healthier life begins with self-care.

"Health is something we so often take for granted," she says. "If we don’t have a transformative reason to show up for ourselves, it’s harder to eat healthier, exercise first thing in the morning or go to bed earlier.

"We live in a very hedonistic society and instead we really need to pivot to a more purpose-driven life."

A personal mission

A 25-year veteran of Mayo Clinic, where she founded the integrative breast oncology program, Mussallem received her purpose early in her medical career when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. The message was reinforced years later when she became a heart transplant recipient. Rather than break her spirit, these trials only strengthened her resolve to do better.

"So often when we look at resilience, it’s like a rubber band. You’re stretched and you go right back to size," she says. "But for me, it was an opportunity for transformative growth, and amid adversity, we have such clarity as to what that can look like."

The Fountain Life process begins with a similar moment of illumination in the form of a conversation about what your health goals should be. Once the team has a clear picture of your health history, goals and lifestyle, they’re able to begin to tailor a bespoke experience.

"We have to look outside of ourselves," Mussallem says. "If you’re caught up in stress, anxiety, disappointment or envy, it starts to cultivate not-so-healthy emotions. It’s important to keep ourselves in check, of course, but we don’t want to be so hard on ourselves."

This is particularly pertinent for leaders of the business world, who often find themselves at the mercy of the turbulence of success.

"They’re in pursuit of becoming," she explains. "They’re constantly becoming and they don’t pause just to be, to experience stillness.

"I think that’s critical for people forever caught up in momentum."

The sooner you can start to address this imbalance, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of longevity, Mussallem adds, but it requires a significant change in behavior. And that behavior can be more problematic than it seems at first glance.

"Whenever I’m talking to a leadership group, I remind them that they’re modeling their behavior for their team," she says.

"If you’re sending an email out to your people at 2am, what kind of message is that? If you’re working all day and complaining about being tired, yet you’re not making time for a workout, your staff isn’t going to do that either.

"Exercise is fertilizer for the brain. When we exercise, we’re releasing the brain-derived neurotrophic factor hormone, which helps rewire the brain with new neurons to be more effective, have enhanced cognition and improved performance at work."

Data drives outcomes

The Fountain Life method uses its award-winning Zori AI Medical Expert platform to provide 24/7 medical advice, real-time insights and progress tracking to keep participants moving and aware of the factors keeping them from their best selves. This way, each member embarks on their own journey using a personalized health road map, with advanced therapies and other restorative therapeutics available along the way.

"Our goal at Fountain Life is to democratize wellness," Mussallem says. "We take all these billions of lab data points, place them in Zori’s massive AI cloud, and then use the patterns we find to provide the best outcome for our members individually."

So advanced is Zori AI’s genetic mapping capabilities that the Fountain Life team can chart polygenic risk scores, which predict the likelihood of developing certain diseases.

"But it’s not necessarily our fate," she points out. "We have different switches in our genes that turn on and off depending on how we’re living, so we can fine-tune it specifically per client and work out what influences can bring those risk numbers down."

The next stage of such technology would be gene editing, a process that would change the face of human health forever. Mussallem says it’s possible, and sooner than you think.

"We’re already growing organs in laboratories, so people won’t need heart transplants from strangers," she reveals.

"Stem cell treatment is absolutely incredible, so if we can keep ourselves well for the next 10 years, we’re going to see some fascinating developments."

For this reason, Mussallem believes it’s an exciting time to be in the space of health and longevity.

"Everyone’s more engaged than ever, and Gen Z is the first generation to be really curious about their health," she says. "It’s the first time we’ve seen a decrease in alcohol consumption and an increase in healthy purchases such as nutraceuticals and gym memberships."

And longevity matters for reasons that won’t become apparent for years, but Mussallem says that’s all part of the journey.

"A Harvard study found that our relationships at age 50 matter most in order to be the healthiest version of ourselves. More than our cholesterol levels," she explains.

"So while you can easily get caught up in eating well, sleeping well and moving enough, ultimately what matters most is being with others in a kind and loving way."