Stephen Anton, Ph.D.

Professor of Physiology and Aging

College of Medicine

2024 Awardee

Stephen Anton researches the influence of lifestyle factors on people’s health and performance as they age. Specifically, he investigates how lifestyle can affect the risk of chronic disease conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disease, and how those conditions impact quality of life and longevity.

With more than 200 published scientific articles and book chapters, Anton’s research has been recognized nationally and internationally. His findings have been reported in top medical journals such as Obesity, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Aging Research Reviews.

Over the past two decades, he has studied the intersection of lifestyle choices, including physical activity, dietary macronutrients, calorie intake and fasting periods, and their effect on the biology of aging and function in older adults.

“Each of these factors can influence how well people age and impact their risk for chronic disease conditions,” Anton says.

He has also investigated the potential of biological compounds to target some of the mechanisms that appear to play a role in aging and chronic inflammation. In a study comparing weight loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein and carbohydrates, Anton and his colleagues found that no one specific diet led to better outcomes than another.

Having always appreciated the benefits of an active lifestyle, Anton was torn between pursuing a career in medicine or psychology. After taking a class on how behaviors influence health, he set on a path that connected the two interests. He earned his doctoral degree in clinical and health psychology at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, where he received training in health promotion and the delivery of lifestyle interventions designed to modify eating and exercise behaviors.

Following his studies, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana before returning to UF in 2007 as an assistant professor in the College of Medicine.

Anton says he enjoys working closely with fellow researchers and clinicians at the UF Institute on Aging and Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, which is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Aging. The grant enables research focused on improving mobility and function in older adults.

“In Florida, we have a growing population of older adults,” he said. “Between the National Institute of Aging grant, our outstanding resources at the numerous centers and institutes, and the wonderful, collegial environment here at UF, it has been a great place to work.”