Vijeth Iyengar is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center. A cognitive neuroscientist by training, he is currently the director of global aging at AARP where he leads cutting-edge research, drives thought leadership on global aging issues and cultivates relationships and strategic alliances to promote the enterprises vision for the global 50+ population.

Prior to joining AARP, Iyengar spent half a decade as a civil servant in the US federal government advancing a range of policies and programs to improve the overall health and well-being of older Americans and their families. During this period—spanning the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations—he served in a number of capacities including as a policy advisor to the 4th chief technology officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, brain health lead and technical advisor to the deputy assistant secretary for aging, co-lead coordinator of the older adult working group for the Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020/2030 Initiative, and as lead author of the US country report for the Fourth Review and Appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing—a quinquennial process overseen by the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

Among other recognitions, he was selected as an Aspen Ideas Festival health fellow, a US presidential management fellow, a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow, and recipient of the Telly Awards for his work on AARP’s Aging Readiness & Competitiveness Initiative. Iyengar’s writings and insights have appeared in the Bangkok Post, Brookings Institution, Forbes, Hindustan Times, National Academy of Medicine, and Scientific American among other outlets. He is currently a Salzburg Global fellow, and an advisor to Ashoka’s New Longevity Initiative.

A native of Louisiana, he was a visiting undergraduate student at Cornell University, earned his bachelor’s degree from Tulane University, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Duke University.