Peter Attia

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Peter Attia
Peter Attia in 2025.jpg
Peter Attia
Born (1973-03-19) March 19, 1973 (age 52) [1]
Education Queen's University (BS)
Stanford University (MD)
OccupationAuthor
SpouseJill Attia
Children3
Website peterattiamd.com

Peter Attia (born March 19, 1973) [1] is a Canadian-American author and former researcher known for his work in longevity medicine. He is the author of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.

Contents

In January 2026, Attia was hired as a contributor to CBS News.

Early life and education

Attia was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the child of Egyptian Christian immigrant parents. [2] He graduated from Queen's University at Kingston in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics. He then attended Stanford University School of Medicine, graduating in 2001 with a Doctor of Medicine.[ citation needed ]

Career

From 2001 to 2006, Attia began a residency in general surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, but never completed his residency, nor did he complete a fellowship or become board certified. [3] He also undertook research at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, investigating cancer immunotherapy for melanoma. [4]

After dropping out of his residency program, Attia joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in the Palo Alto office as a member of the Corporate Risk Practice and Healthcare Practice. [5] In 2014, he founded a private clinic dedicated to longevity medicine. [6] Attia also created the blog "The Eating Academy" (later "War on Insulin" and now peterattiamd.com) that mostly focuses on topics related to nutrition, physical activity, and longevity. Subsequently, he launched the podcast The Peter Attia Drive, in which he interviews various experts each week, covering topics such as longevity, metabolic health, and medical research.

In 2012, Attia co-founded the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI), with Gary Taubes, with a primary focus on promoting nutrition research and tackling the growing health challenges linked to obesity, diabetes, and metabolic diseases. [7] [8] In 2013, Attia was a speaker at TEDMED, where he shared insights on longevity. [9] [10] [11] Attia has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss's book Tools of Titans . He had a central role in Limitless with Chris Hemsworth , a six-part documentary for National Geographic and Disney+ starring Chris Hemsworth and directed by Darren Aronofsky. In episode 5, Attia told Hemsworth that he carried the high-risk APOE4 allele, which places him at elevated risk of neurodegenerative aging of the Alzheimer's type. [12]

In 2017, he posted on his YouTube Channel, with his first set of videos being instructional exercise videos. It now has more than a million subscribers, and now focuses on longevity content. [13]

On March 28, 2023, Attia (with coauthor Bill Gifford) published his book Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity. [14] According to The New York Times Magazine , the book "has been a runaway best seller since it was published this spring [of 2023]"; [15] it was No. 3 on the Amazon Charts for nonfiction as of August 24, 2023. [16] [15] Attia was named in Time's 2024 list of influential people in health. [17]

In October 2025, Attia appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes, where he discussed the role of structured exercise and preventative health strategies in extending health span. [18]

In January 2026, Attia, along with various other health influencers, was announced as a new contributor to CBS News. [19]

Personal life

Attia currently lives in the Austin, Texas, area with his wife and three children. [20] In 2005, Attia swam across the channel between Santa Catalina Island and Los Angeles, the 120th person to achieve that feat. [21]

Involvement with Jeffrey Epstein

In 2025, the disclosure of Jeffrey Epstein's appointment calendars revealed several meetings with Attia up to 2019. [22] When the Epstein files were released, emails between Attia and Epstein attested to their longstanding friendship; in one of them, Epstein wrote to Attia, with the subject header "Got a fresh shipment". Attia told Epstein that "the biggest problem" of being friends with him was that "the life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can't tell a soul". [23] In a separate email dated February 2016, he told Epstein that "pussy is, indeed, low carb." [24] [25] [26]

References

  1. 1 2 "Amazon.com". Amazon. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  2. Machell, Ben (9 June 2023). "How to stay fit over 60? 9 changes to make now". The Times of London . Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  3. "Dr. Peter Attia on why he left residency" . Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  4. "Peter Attia, MD | Penguin Random House".
  5. Husten, Larry. "A Manhattan Project To End The Obesity Epidemic". forbes.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  6. "Peter Attia Bio: A Deep Dive into the Life and Achievements of the Longevity Expert". podcastmentions.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  7. Szokan, Nancy (25 August 2014). "Is it what we eat? Or that we overeat? A look at the effort to figure out why we're fat". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  8. "What Makes You So Smart, Peter Attia? Pacific Standard". psmag.com. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  9. O'Connor, Anahad (12 July 2013). "Blaming the Patient, Then Asking Forgiveness". nytimes.com. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  10. Munro, Dan (24 April 2018). "Are We Fighting The Wrong Battle In The Obesity War?". forbes.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  11. "Attia P. TED: Is the Obesity Crisis Hiding a Bigger Problem?". ted.com. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  12. Angeline Jane Bernabe, Madison Marmen, Matthew Yahata (17 November 2022). "Chris Hemsworth discovers he may be at risk for Alzheimer's disease in new series, 'Limitless'". Good Morning America . ABC News . Retrieved 28 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. "Peter Attia MD". YouTube. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
  14. "Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity - New Book by Peter Attia". Peter Attia. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  15. 1 2 Marchese, David (21 May 2023). "Want to Live Longer and Healthier? Peter Attia Has a Plan". The New York Times . Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  16. "Amazon Charts: Week of August 20, 2023". Amazon.com . Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  17. "TIME100 Health". TIME. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  18. "Dr. Peter Attia says enjoying a longer, healthier life requires serious training: "Life is a sport" - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 26 October 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  19. Luscombe, Richard (30 January 2026). "A 'wellness bro', a cosmologist and an RFK Jr crony: meet Bari Weiss's new CBS News contributors". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 31 January 2026.
  20. "About Peter - Peter Attia". Peterattiamd.com. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  21. Rainey, James (18 October 2005). "30,000 strokes to go". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  22. "Jeffrey Epstein cultivated celebrity relationships for years. Many continued until his 2019 arrest for sex trafficking, documents show. - CBS News". 31 October 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  23. "Who is Peter Attia? 'Celeb doctor' named in latest Epstein files; 'problem in being friends with you'". Hindustan Times. 31 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  24. Reporter, Laura Esposito Breaking News (1 February 2026). "CBS News' Star Hire Hung With Epstein as Baby Son Fought for Life". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  25. "EFTA02496403" (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice.
  26. Reporter, Adam Downer Breaking News (1 February 2026). "CBS News Star Hire Busted Sending Vile Emails to 'Outrageous' Epstein". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2 February 2026.