Joint Alumni Forum
Is Longevity based on your Genetic Code or Postcode?
Panel Discussion with Experts
Panel Speakers:
Dr. Shirin Hund (Keynote Speaker), Founder and CEO of Virgil Health, and curator of a health advisory platform serving a patient population seeking the highest standard of preventive and longevity medicine
Dr. George Gaitanos, Chief Operating and Scientific Officer at Chenot (Lucerne), one of the world’s leading preventative health and wellness organizations, delivering science-led programmes designed to reset the body and create health, in high-end, fully immersive and medically supervised properties.
Dr. Marta Ra, Swiss Institutional, Fostering meaningful connections among investors, asset managers, regulators, and fintech innovators.
Moderator:
Diane Bailey, Executive Board, Harvard Club of Switzerland, and Founder of the Joint Alumni Forum
Dear Harvardians, Joint Alumni Forum, and Interested Parties,
The Joint Alumni Forum invites you to an engaging evening with leading longevity experts who will explain the longevity boom — examining its scientific and medical foundations, financial implications, and the systemic human and equality dimensions reshaping how societies age and who will benefit.
When: Wednesday, 27 May, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm (arrivals from 5:30 pm), Drinks and Networking to follow
Where: Walder Wyss AG, Seefeldstrasse 123, 8008 Zürich
Voluntary Contributions: Professionals CHF20; Student/Part-timers/Retired CHF10; Free for Virtual Attendance, Refugees, and special circumstances.
Dr. George Gaitanos will open the discussion with an overview and challenge conventional approaches to longevity by reframing health not as the absence of disease, but as something actively created and sustained. Dr. Gaitanos will also provide an understanding of how to shape our health trajectory.
Dr. Marta Ra, co-editor of Longevity Finance, will examine how gender and generational inequality intersect with global longevity, exploring the financial, medical, and societal disadvantages faced disproportionately by women as lifespans extend, grounding the discussion in the UN SDGs and exploring whether achieving longevity equality demands coordinated reform across financial systems, medical research, retirement policy, and social care.
Dr. Shirin Hund, who gave a TEDx Zurich talk in October 2024 on “how the biological footprint can keep patients alive” will follow with the Keynote Speech addressing inter alia: (i) Longevity as a Human Right, (ii) the Equality Gap in Longevity, (iii) the Distribution of Preventative Medicine, (iv) Information Asymmetry and (v) How Social Determinants Become Biological Outcomes.
We look forward to providing a forum for education, discussion, and networking.
For and on behalf of the Harvard Club of Switzerland and the Joint Alumni Forum
Diane B Bailey
Register here
Meet our Panel
Dr. Shirin Hund
Dr. Shirin Hund is a Harvard-trained internal medicine physician licensed in both the United States and Switzerland, with advanced expertise in obesity, functional, and longevity medicine. As a Harvard Medical School fellow, she developed a systems-based approach to health that bridges optimal clinical care with broader health system outcomes. She is the founder and CEO of Virgil Health, a premium health advisory platform delivering personalized health journeys through advanced diagnostics, precision interventions, and exclusive wellness retreats.
Beyond her clinical practice, Dr. Hund serves as Chief Technology Officer at Exelixis Capital AG, advises leading health and longevity companies, including Swiss Analytica and Avea Life AG, and is the lead physician of the Body Insights & Optimization Program at Chenot Palace Weggis. A globally recognized voice in next-generation healthcare, she is a moderator and speaker at the World Economic Forum and TEDx Zurich, with academic work published in journals including Academic Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and Frontiers in Immunology.
Dr. George Gaitanos
Dr. George Gaitanos is Chief Operating and Scientific Officer of Chenot Group, which he joined in 2013. A medical scientist with expertise in sport rehabilitation, exercise physiology, muscle biochemistry, and energy metabolism, he holds an MSc and PhD from Loughborough University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. His research has been published in numerous medical journals.
Dr. Gaitanos brings over 30 years of experience in health promotion and disease prevention through personalized lifestyle medicine, as well as 14 years working at the elite level of sports performance — including two Olympic Games and the NBA. Through his development of award-winning programs at Chenot Health Wellness Retreats worldwide, he champions the belief that aging need not mean functional decline, helping people achieve and maintain optimal health and active, fulfilling lives at any age.
Dr. Marta Ra
Dr. Marta Ra is Co-Founder & President of Women in Sustainable Finance and holds multiple board positions across the sustainable finance space. With a PhD in International Business and a Harvard Medical School certificate in psychiatry, she is also a Forbes Business Council member and TEDx speaker. Marta brings a rare blend of finance expertise- spanning J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley and entrepreneurial vision, championing inclusive leadership as a catalyst for meaningful climate action.
About the Joint Alumni Forum
The Joint Alumni Forum, a social responsibility committee of the Harvard Club of Switzerland and cooperation with the alumni clubs in Switzerland of Harvard, Oxford & Cambridge, Stanford, Yale, Columbia University, Northwestern, and others was established in January 2018 as a forum for discussion, education and debate on various themes encompassing social responsibility (i.e. equality themes, environnment, sustainability, human rights, etc.). The outreach for the speakers series is broader than the alumni of universities in the collaboration, but also like-minded representatives of institutions and interest groups based in Switzerland, and members of the public.
Our Aim is to Trigger Thoughts which Trigger Action, which Triggers Impact.
If you’d like to know more about us or participate in our initiatives, please contact us.
Our Sponsors
Big thank you to our sponsors for this event:
Venue Sponsor:
