The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the US’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization focused on aging, has recognized two USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology faculty members for extraordinary research and mentorship in the aging field. Both awards will be presented during GSA’s 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, scheduled for November 12–15, 2025, in Boston, Mass.
Research Excellence
Distinguished Professor and Dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Pinchas Cohen
Pinchas Cohen, Dean of the USC Leonard Davis School and USC Distinguished Professor of Gerontology, Medicine and Biological Sciences, has been named this year’s recipient of the Robert W. Kleemeier Award. Established in 1965, the Kleemeier Award honors a GSA Fellow for “outstanding research in the field of gerontology.” Each recipient presents a lecture at the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting the following year; Cohen will deliver the Kleemeier Award Lecture during the 2026 meeting.
Cohen is an internationally recognized expert on healthy aging and longevity as well as an expert in the study of mitochondrial microproteins and their therapeutic potential for diseases related to aging. He is a pioneer in the emerging science of mitochondria-derived peptides; the numerous peptides discovered in his lab, including humanin, MOTS-c, SHMOOSE and SHLP2, are possible targets for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, obesity, cancer, and more.
The discovery of humanin more than 20 years ago upended the field’s understanding of what regions of the mitochondrial genome could code for proteins and ushered in a new understanding of the mitochondria. The work of Cohen and his colleagues has shown that these organelles aren’t simply energy factories for our cells; they also have important roles in metabolism, cell death, communication between cells and more.
Cohen has received numerous awards for his research, including a National Institute of Aging “EUREKA” Award and the National Institutes of Health Director Transformative RO1 Grant. He also received the American Federation of Aging Research Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction and the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Gerontological Society of America as well as a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors. He holds several patents for novel peptides and is the cofounder of CohBar, a biotechnology company developing mitochondrial peptides for diabetes.
In receiving the Kleemeier Award, one of the aging field’s most prestigious scientific honors, Cohen joins current and past USC Leonard Davis School faculty members Eileen Crimmins, Caleb Finch, Vern Bengtson, and James Birren.
“This is a humbling honor that reflects not just my work over the last 25 years but also the work of my colleagues and students who have recognized the potential of this exciting new era of biology,” Cohen said. “I believe we’ve only just begun to identify the high-value mitochondrial microproteins that can be translated into potential interventions in diseases of aging.”
Mentoring Tomorrow’s Leaders
USC Leonard Davis School Vice Dean and Professor of Gerontology Sean Curran
Sean Curran, Vice Dean of the USC Leonard Davis School and professor of gerontology, received the Hiram J. Friedsam Mentorship Award. The award is bestowed by the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education, a membership group within GSA, and honors those who have demonstrated excellence in mentorship to students, faculty, and administrators. Each year, the awardee is invited to present a lecture on mentorship during the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting.
Curran, who is also a GSA Fellow and the 2025 Vice Chair of the GSA Biological Sciences Section, is committed to encouraging the next generation of aging researchers both as a leading scientist and as a teacher. He leads a renowned lab focused on gene–diet interactions that affect healthspan and aging and has received multiple honors for his research, including the AFAR Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research Award, Paul F. Glenn Award, GSA’s Nathan Shock New Investigator Award, and the Ewald W. Busse Research Award. In his lab, he provides valuable training, support, and professional opportunities to undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students as well as postdoctoral scholars.
He developed the USC Leonard Davis School’s first-of-its-kind PhD in Geroscience program, which recruited its inaugural class in 2024, and is the principal investigator for the school’s T32 Geroscience Training Grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Curran also leads an NIA K07 Academic Leadership Career Award that provides programs and activities for mentoring students, postdocs, and junior faculty at the university, as well for training senior faculty on how to be successful mentors.
In a nomination letter, Curran’s colleagues lauded the exemplary track record of scientific and professional success for his mentees, noting that all nine of his graduated PhD students have gone on to do post-doctoral work and that all of his five post-doctoral trainees have gone on to secure a faculty appointment. The nominators also mentioned his support for students in other disciplines, including lecturing to social scientists in the USC Leonard Davis School PhD in Gerontology program and presenting on genetics relevant to Alzheimer’s disease for social scientists at NIA workshops.
Previously, Curran’s mentoring has been recognized by the Mellon Foundation, and in 2019 he received the USC Provost’s Mentoring Award. He is the second USC Leonard Davis faculty member to receive the Friedsam Award; Kelvin Davies, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Gerontology, Molecular & Computational Biology, and Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, received the award in 2017.
“My career would not be what it is today without the extraordinary mentorship and support I received when I was a new researcher,” Curran said. “Mentoring has been the most rewarding aspect of my career. I am proud to have had the chance to share my experience and provide guidance to students, fellows, and junior faculty so I can ‘pay forward’ the opportunities that made such a big difference in my life.”
