John Beard, MBBS, PhD

  • Irene Diamond Professor of Productive Aging (in Health Policy Management, Epidemiology and in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center) and Director of the International Longevity Center USA at CUMC
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Overview

Dr. Beard’s work considers health from the perspective of functioning rather than the presence or absence of disease.

Prior to joining the Columbia Aging Center, he served as Director of Ageing and Life Course at the World Health Organization, where he led the development of a global public health framework for healthy aging—focused on enabling older people to be and do the things that matter most to them.

A central concept of this framework is intrinsic capacity—the combination of all the physical and mental capacities a person can draw on throughout life. Dr. Beard’s research has used large longitudinal studies from North America, Europe, Israel, and China to advance the measurement of intrinsic capacity and map how it varies across populations. His recent analyses show that more recently-born generations in England and China are experiencing far healthier aging trajectories than earlier cohorts.

Today, his work focuses on understanding what drives these patterns, whether similar trends are emerging in the United States and elsewhere, and how complex biological processes shape changes in functioning with age.

He continues to influence global policy on key issues, including:
– Community development to support older adults in low- and middle-income countries
– Creating more age-friendly environments
– Designing integrated health care for older populations
– Supporting older people displaced by conflict and disaster

Academic Appointments

  • Irene Diamond Professor of Productive Aging (in Health Policy Management, Epidemiology and in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center) and Director of the International Longevity Center USA at CUMC

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • Bachelor of Medicine, 1979 Bachelor of Surgery, University of Adelaide
  • Doctor of Philosophy , 2002 (Medicine/Epidemiology), University of Sydney

Committees, Societies, Councils

2019-2022: Commissioner, Global Commission for Healthy Longevity, US National Academy of Medicine,

Washington DC, USA

2019-2023: Chief Adviser, European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Health

2018-2020: Member, Working group on “Transforming the future of Ageing”.

Science Advice for Policy by the European Academies

July 2016: Participant, G7 Health Experts Meeting, Tokyo, Japan

Editorial Boards

International Editorial Board: Public Health, Royal Institute of Public Health, London

International Panel, Public Health Research and Practice

Advisory Board, Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging, Springer

International Advisory Board, Oxford Textbook of Geriatric Medicine

Co-Editor Special Issue “Healthy Ageing”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Oct 2017

Series Co-Editor, “Ageing and Health”, The Lancet, November 2014

Co-Editor Special Issue “Women Beyond Reproduction”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization Sept 2013

Honors & Awards

Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Adelaide, 2017

Fellow, United States National Public Health Leadership Institute 2002-2004.

Adjunct Professor, Peking University, China 2019-21

Visiting Professor, Toulouse University, Toulouse, France 2019-23

Research


Selected Publications

1. Chen M, Hanewald K, Si Y, Gu Y, Beard JR. Intrinsic Capacity Across 15 Countries in the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe. JAMA Network Open. 2025 May 1;8(5):e259792. PubMed PMID: 40354051.

2. John R Beard, Katja Hanewald, Yafei Si, Jotheeswaran Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan, Dario Moreno-Agostino. Is 70 the new 60? A longitudinal analysis of cohort trends in intrinsic capacity in England and China. Nature Aging 2025, 5, 87–98

3. Beard JR, Si Y, Liu Z, Chenoweth L, Hanewald K. Intrinsic Capacity: Validation of a New WHO Concept for Healthy Ageing in a Longitudinal Chinese Study. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences. 2022 Jan 7;77(1):94-100. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glab226. PubMed PMID: 34343305

4. Beard JR , Jotheeswaran AT, Cesari M, Carvalho IA. The structure and predictive value of intrinsic capacity in a longitudinal study of ageing. BMJ Open 2019; 9 (11)

5. Cesari M, Beard JR, Araujo de Carvalho I, Martin F, Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan J, Reginster J-Y, Vellas B. Evidence for the Domains Supporting The Construct Of Intrinsic Capacity. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, Series A. 2018, 73 (12), 1653–1660.

6. JR Beard, A Officer, I Araujo de Carvalho, R Sadana, AM Pot, JP Michel, P Lloyd Sherlock, J Epping-Jordan, G Peters, WR Mahanani, J Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan, S Chatterji. The World Report on Ageing and Health: a policy framework for healthy ageing. The Lancet 2016; 387 (10033): 2145-2154. PubMed PMID: 26520231; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4848186

7. John R. Beard, David E. Bloom. Towards a Comprehensive Public Health Response to Population Ageing. Lancet. 2015 February 14; 385(9968): 658–661. PubMed PMID: 25468151; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4663973.

List of Published Work in MyBibliography:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/john.beard.4/bibliography/public/

Global Health Activities

For 10 years until 2019, Dr Beard was Director of Ageing and Life Course with the World Health Organization in Geneva where he led a number of major global initiatives. He was lead editor and writer for the World report on ageing and health which provides the foundation for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing which runs from 2020-2030. In 2012, he established the WHO Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities which now includes over 1500 member municipalities responsible for more than 300 million people. Other projects developed by his team included the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) programme, a global campaign to combat ageism and reframe the way we think about ageing and older age, and work with research partners to identify and fill the many knowledge gaps in the field of ageing.

Dr Beard has worked extensively with the World Economic Forum, including as chair of their Global Agenda Council on Population Ageing and as facilitator for several events at their annual meeting in Davos. He has also served as Master of Ceremonies for High-level Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) events in St Petersburg and San Francisco.

Dr Beard continues to work internationally in diverse roles including as

  • Chair of the International Advisory Panel for the Health District @ Queenstown Project, Singapore.
  • Senior International Ageing Policy Technical Advisor, United Nations Development Program, Cambodia.
  • Member of IHU Scientific Advisory Board, Toulouse University, France.
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, The American Hospital of Paris.
  • Chair, Advisory Council, Global Coalition on Ageing, New York; and as
  • Member of Steering Committee for the Longevity Economy Initiative of the World Economic Forum.