It’s 4:10 in the morning in New York City. The apartment is quiet. It’s still dark outside, but my mind is already in Cannes: sun on La Croisette, coffee and a croissant (yes!), friends I haven’t met yet.
I’m a few days late on this newsletter. I always tell my team: if you wait until you’re ready and perfect, you’re too late. But I needed the time. Because building the experience in Cannes isn’t about filling an agenda. I wanted to think of this summit like a book. Who are the characters? What are the stories? What will you feel, and what will change when you go home?
Every person on this stage was curated because they are shaping the future of longevity medicine. Every moment is designed to mean something, one after the other. We’re creating an experience for physicians at every stage of the journey: learning, building, scaling, leading.
We’re not just hosting another conference. We’re building the home of longevity medicine.
Once Upon a Time
In 1959, my father landed in Cannes. He became a physician and participated in the creation of the first university diploma in acupuncture at the University of Montpellier.
Two years ago, the city of Cannes called me and asked if I would organize a longevity summit. The circle closed. Same city. Different generation. Same idea: medicine evolves when doctors decide to lead it.
Cannes is already home to some of the world’s most iconic cultural gatherings: the Film Festival for cinema, Cannes Lions for creativity. Longevity medicine is becoming a cultural moment. It needed a home.
And if you’ve ever walked La Croisette in the morning -the Mediterranean air, the markets, the pace of life- you’d swear Cannes looks like a blue zone. There is something poetic about gathering the world’s longevity physicians in a city that already lives like one.
Longevity medicine is at an inflection point. Patients are driving demand. Physicians are stepping into new roles as clinicians, investors, and founders. Companies are scaling the science. Governments are starting to fund it. What’s missing is the standard: the protocols, the credential, the community that turn longevity from a trend into a discipline.
Cannes 2026 is where we set that standard: with evidence, with ethics, and with equity.
If you already know you need to be in the room.
Prologue
Originally published in The Longevity Medicine Intelligence newsletter (#91).
