Dr. John Beard is the Irene Diamond Professor and Director of the International Longevity Center – USA at Columbia University, New York. He works globally with academia, policymakers, and the private sector to reimagine the second half of life.
Until 2019, Dr. Beard was the Director of Ageing and Life Course at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, where he led several major global initiatives. He was the editor and writer for the World Report on Ageing and Health, which laid the foundation for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing. In 2012, he established the WHO Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities, which now includes over 1,500 municipalities representing more than 300 million people. Dr. Beard’s team also developed the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) programme and a global campaign to combat ageism.
Dr. Beard has worked extensively with the World Economic Forum, including as chair of their Global Agenda Council on Population Ageing. He is a visiting professor at Toulouse University and has previously served as a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He was also a commissioner with the US National Academy of Medicine Commission on Healthy Longevity.