Free Radicals Longevity politics with the Forbes 30U30 lobbyist changing DC - Dylan Livingston, A4LI
Mar 31, 2026
Dylan Livingston, founder of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives and a young DC lobbyist for life-extension policy. He explains how he built bipartisan support, launched a longevity caucus, and expanded Right to Try in Montana. Topics include lobbying tactics, funding and regulatory hurdles, surrogate endpoints, and the push for a cultural breakthrough in longevity research.
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How A Childhood Spark Became A Lobbying Mission
- Dylan discovered longevity at age 12 after his father showed him Aubrey de Grey’s talk and later rekindled interest during COVID while caring for his 92-year-old grandfather.
- That personal arc from fanboy to founder motivated him to leave political campaigns and start A4LI at 23 to push policy on aging.
Bootstrapping A4LI With LinkedIn Outreach
- Dylan launched A4LI by cold-messaging ~1,000 LinkedIn contacts, joining communities like Foresight, and fundraising enough to hire a small team and officially launch in 2022.
- He credits door-knocking experience from the Biden campaign for resilience in outreach and early networking via his father's contacts.
Longevity Is Gaining Political Traction In Washington
- Since 2022 longevity moved from obscure to mainstream in DC, gaining NIH program managers and a growing bipartisan congressional caucus now at 10 members.
- Funding cuts at NIH are a drag, but new staff with longevity backgrounds and state-level wins show political momentum.