In 2021, lifespan in the United States fell for the second year in a row. While largely fueled by COVID-19 and overdose deaths, this decreased life expectancy was greater in the United States than in other comparable nations affected by COVID and substance use. Clearly, other factors were contributing as well. These factors, as studies have shown, are largely driven by poor lifestyle: inactivity, excessive and poor quality diet, limited sleep, and increased social isolation, among others. 

While people are often a product of their environment (and their genetics), this doesn’t mean that health cannot be improved. Clearly, it can. However, finding information about improving one’s health that is reliable, safe, scientific, practical, evidence-based, and cost-effective, is nearly impossible in the social media era where everyone professes the key to health and well-being, and scientific rigor is abandoned. 

Somewhere in late 2021, after hearing yet another patient ask for my opinion on a specific, completely ludicrous health intervention they heard about on TikTok (no, I won’t repeat the intervention or the influencer, it’s that bad), the idea for Vitalis Healthspan hatched. Over the next 3 years, the curriculum, content, videos, and quizzes were created, with careful attention paid to ensuring that information satisfied all of the above criteria in bold. The first iteration of the Vitalis Healthspan program was launched in 2024. 

Based on user feedback and the ever-changing science, the site was updated in early 2025 for a better user experience. We expanded to be able to offer corporate sponsorships, and transitioned the content into a mature, fully-functioning course. 

Currently, I think Vitalis Healthspan has reached a really good place – it works as a standalone curriculum to promote healthspan, and it helps to personally complement my clinical practice. I don’t always have time during a patient visit to dive into the nuance of a particular subject, but chances are if my patient engages with the Vitalis program, they are left with an excellent core understanding to be able to make actionable changes to their lifestyle, routines, medicines, and health philosophy. 

I’m really glad you’ve decided to check out my passion project, and I hope you stop by often, learn a lot, and teach others what you’ve learned.