CELINE HALIOUA

Age: 27 • Founder and CEO, Loyal

Halioua, who studied neuroscience at the University of Texas, Austin, and economics of gene therapeutics at Oxford, founded San Francisco– based biotech Cellular Longevity (known as Loyal) in 2019 to identify compounds that help prevent undue aging and cancer in dogs, which could also potentially help humans. One key advantage: It’s easier to get experimental drugs approved for the veterinary market than for humans. Her first anti-aging drug entering clinical trials next year targets

a cellular mechanism hypothesized to mitigate mental and physical decline associated with age. The pre-revenue company has raised over $38 million in venture capital. “There’s never been a drug approved for aging for any species, dog or human,” Halioua says. “My core goal in life

is to get the first drug approved.”