Peter Attia

Peter Attia trained at Stanford University School of Medicine and completed a general surgery residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital before leaving residency to become a surgical oncology fellow at the National Cancer Institute [1][3]. He then worked at McKinsey & Company before founding Early Medical in 2014, a private practice focused on longevity medicine [1].

In 2023 Attia published Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity with journalist Bill Gifford; the book was widely reviewed as a manifesto against what Attia calls "Medicine 2.0," arguing for earlier, more aggressive intervention on the chronic diseases that kill most people [2]. Early Medical's annual membership fees start at $150,000, according to New York Times reporting cited by a 2026 secondary source, and the practice targets executives, athletes, and others able to pay for continuous biomarker monitoring and priority clinician access [4]. Attia's Drive podcast offers free episodes with a paid membership tier, priced at $149 per year or $19 per month, that gives access to full transcripts and archives [4].

Attia is one of the most visible physician-prescribers of off-label rapamycin for longevity purposes, but according to discussion among his own patient community he prescribes it to only a minority of his patients, reportedly around 10%, citing the drug's dose-dependent effects, thin human evidence base, and his own preference to wait for data from the Dog Aging Project before expanding use [5]. That project's federal funding was reportedly reduced at one point, and community reports indicate Attia and others contributed funding to keep parts of the rapamycin trial running [5]. This is a more conservative prescribing posture than some other longevity clinics take with the same drug.

In February 2026, Reuters reported that Attia stepped down as Chief Science Officer of David Protein, a protein bar company, following the emergence of information about his past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein [6]. Later that month CNN reported that Attia also resigned from a newly created CBS News contributor position, one of 19 new contributors announced in January 2026 under incoming opinion editor Bari Weiss, after further Epstein-related documents were released showing a 2016 message exchange between Attia and Epstein [7]. Attia stated publicly on social media that he was never on Epstein's plane, island, or at any of his parties, and that he never witnessed or saw anyone who appeared underage in Epstein's presence; he has not been accused of misconduct himself, and a CBS spokesperson said Attia chose to step back to avoid distracting from the network's work [7]. He also apologized to colleagues and patients, according to the same reporting [7].

On substantive scientific claims, Attia is generally regarded within the longevity field as more conservative than some peers: he has publicly flagged the negative side-effect profile of rapamycin and stressed the absence of large randomized human trials for many drugs discussed in longevity circles [5]. He has also pushed the framing that exercise, not any drug or supplement, is the single most potent intervention available, describing training for a "Centenarian Decathlon" of physical capacities needed in old age [2].

The plain takeaway: Attia built a large public following on a genuinely more cautious, exercise-first version of longevity medicine than many of his peers, but his February 2026 resignations from David Protein and CBS News over Epstein-related correspondence are now part of his public record and relevant to any reader evaluating his broader credibility, independent of the specific medical claims in Outlive.