Meet Colwyn Headley, PhD, and Nirosha J. Murugan, PhD—two members of our Scientific & Medical Advisory Board who see mitochondrial function not just as one part of the puzzle, but the thread connecting it all.

Dr. Headley is our Scientific & Medical Advisory Board Chair and an Instructor and Junior Faculty Member in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, where his research explores how aging-related mitochondrial dysfunction shapes immune regulation and contributes to cardiovascular diseases such as abdominal aortic aneurysms and peripheral artery disease. By combining immunology with mitochondrial bioengineering and transplantation strategies, his work seeks to restore cellular metabolism and vascular health. His research has received support from organizations including the American Heart Association, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and NASA.

Dr. Murugan is Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics and a Faculty of Science Distinguished Research Chair at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she leads a multidisciplinary program investigating the physical basis of life. An applied biophysicist, her work examines how structured physical signals, such as light and magnetism, govern cellular plasticity, tissue regeneration, and disease reversal. By bridging quantum mechanics, biophysics, and biomedical engineering, her research reframes biology not solely as a molecular system but as a dynamic network shaped by fundamental principles of physics. Her earlier work developing quantum sensor–based technologies for non-invasive cancer detection helped launch the biotechnology startup HelioFlux Inc.