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Dawn Mussallem leaves Mayo Clinic to become Fountain Life’s chief medical officer

06 Jan 2026

After 25 years at non-profit academic medical group practice, Mayo Clinic, Dr Dawn Mussallem has become chief medical officer at US longevity clinic company, Fountain Life.

Mussallem is a specialist in oncology and haematology and an assistant professor of medicine. 

She has also been a diagnostic breast specialist at Mayo Clinic’s Robert and Monica Jacoby Centre for Breast Health and she founded the institution’s Integrative Medicine and Breast Health Programme in 2015.

Her work in breast medicine, lifestyle medicine, integrative oncology and cancer survivorship is informed by her own lived experience of cancer. 

Mussallem received a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer after three months of medical school and later, in 2021, she became a heart transplant recipient. In February 2022, she became the first person to run a full marathon one year after a heart transplant.

She told Spa Business, “Mayo Clinic represents the pinnacle of medicine. It is an institution built to solve rare, complex diseases and save lives at the highest level, including my own. 

“From my earliest clinical training in 2000 through today, there was no better place to be shaped by a culture of rigorous science, team-based excellence, and uncompromising devotion to patients,” she added. 

“Being alive and flourishing has clarified my purpose: the future of healthcare must move upstream with the same intensity we bring to cure- toward preventing disease, extending healthspan and restoring vitality. 

Mussallem looked forward to a new chapter: “In my role as chief medical officer at Fountain Life – recently recognised as Longevity Clinic of the Year 2025 at the International Longevity Awards – I have the opportunity to help build that future at scale by integrating advanced diagnostics, precision biomarkers and AI-enabled longitudinal care with evidence-based lifestyle medicine. 

“The goal is simple and bold: to make world-class prevention accessible and ultimately democratise wellness.” 

Mussallem is also a motivational speaker, author, researcher and medical advisor to a range of organisations, including wellness music platform Myndstream. 

At the end of last year, Mayo Clinic took an equity stake in Myndstream as part of a collaboration to explore the clinical potential of functional music in healthcare settings – with Mussallem’s input and direction.

Fountain Life

Fountain Life is a US longevity clinic start-up founded by Dr Peter Diamandis, Dr William Kapp and entrepreneur Tony Robbins.

Last year, the company announced its ambition to scale its clinics after raising US$18 million (€15.4 million, £13.5 million) in funding from investment firm EOS Ventures.

Fountain Life has plans for new centres in Houston (which was scheduled to open in December 2025), Miami and LA (in Q2 of 2026).

It currently has four clinics in Florida, Texas and New York and had raised US$108 million (€92.7 million, £80.9 million) by August 2025.