The 74-Year-Old Scientist Running 100 Marathons to Slow Aging

He is an academician, a leader in several major medical societies, and a survivor of the 2021 Baiyin 100km Ultra-Trail.​​
Before the age of 64, long-term high-intensity work left him suffering from fatty liver, pulmonary nodules, and shingles. At 64, he started running. Cities, plateaus, Lhasa, Qinghai Lake, even the North Pole—all have witnessed his marathon footsteps. He has successfully completed over 100 marathons.
Through running, he has rewritten the "expected" state of life for the elderly: after a patellar fracture, without surgery or immobilization, he started running again on the fifth day and completed a full marathon on the 49th day. At 74, he possesses the muscle and bone density of a 40-year-old, and his pulmonary nodules have shrunk from 26mm to 6mm.

​He is Academician Li Jian'an, a member of the Hundred-Marathon Runners Branch of the China Adventure Association, a Chinese expert in exercise and rehabilitation for cardiovascular diseases, an expert in nerve block and spinal cord injury rehabilitation, an International Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, Chief Physician, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Honorary Dean of the School of Rehabilitation Medicine at Nanjing Medical University, Honorary Director of the Rehabilitation Center at the First Affiliated Hospital, and Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine.​​

​As an authority in Chinese sports and rehabilitation medicine, Academician Li Jian'an leads by example, proving that "exercise is medicine," and challenging the notion that "aging means one must only be still and be cared for."​