Dr. Fontana is co-director of the Longevity Research Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He is interested in preventive medicine and in the mechanisms mediating healthy longevity in humans. He is focused primarily on the role of diet, physical exercise and CR mimetics in retarding the aging process and in preventing age-associated chronic disease. In particular, he is applying whole-body physiological and tissue-specific molecular approaches to investigate the effects of several clinical interventions, including calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, protein restriction, phytochemical-rich plant-based diets, physical exercise and CR mimetics, on outcomes such as cardiovascular function, glucose metabolism, inflammation, neuroendocrine and immune function, gut microbiome and cancer biology. He is also interested in the endocrine role of abdominal fat storage as a mediator of insulin resistance and accelerated aging.