The Health Optimisation Summit, a popular biohacking conference in the United Kingdom, is making its United States debut in Austin, Texas, this weekend. Its founder hopes the event will become a can’t-miss gathering for longevity fanatics – and the social media stars powering this fast-growing corner of the wellness industry.
Tim Gray, a U.K.-based biohacker with over 500,000 followers on Instagram, created the event back in 2019 as a relatively small-scale gathering before the biohacking movement had truly hit the mainstream. Aided by the exploding popularity of longevity and healthspan science, the Health Optimisation Summit drew 3,500 attendees to its 2024 event in London.
It’s now hoping to replicate that success – if not surpass it – in America.
Coming to Austin’s Palmer Events Center on April 12-13, the Health Optimisation Summit’s inaugural U.S. event will feature some of the biggest names in longevity, biohacking and general wellness, with Gary Brecka, Calley Means and Chris Williamson listed as speakers, among others.
Between 2,500 and 3,000 people are expected to attend the event, and tickets were still on sale as of early April (general admission passes start at $339, although prices go much higher)
“Bringing the event to the USA – specifically Austin – was a no-brainer,” Gray tells ATN. “PaleoFX used to draw 6,000 people over a weekend, but it went bust during COVID, leaving the paleo and ancestral health tribe underserved. We were asked if we’d do a U.S. event, and after seeing the demand, we jumped at the chance.”
The Health Optimisation Summit in Austin will feature content across the areas of biohacking, nutrition, longevity, fitness, functional medicine and preventative medicine, with a focus on practical insights over theory.
“This isn’t just another conference, it’s an immersive deep dive into the future of health, combined with ancestral wisdom,” Gray says. “Yes, we’ve got world-class speakers delivering powerful, science-backed insights, but we’re also bringing hands-on experiences that let people feel the difference, not just hear about it.
The summit comes as longevity and healthspan science – essentially the science of living better, for longer – explode in popularity, buoyed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s viral “Make America Healthy Again” movement and a slew of popular social media influencers, several of whom will be speaking this weekend in Austin.
While there are some other big-ticket, in-person events in the longevity space – Eudemonia drew an impressive speaker list of speakers to West Palm Beach last fall – Gray sees a big white space for these types of conferences, which give everyday wellness consumers a chance to meet their social media heroes in person.
“I saw a gap in the industry,” Gray says of his motivation for creating the summit. “There were medical conferences and wellness expos, but nothing that combined cutting-edge science with biohacking and ancestral wisdom. I wanted an event that wasn’t just about learning but about actionable takeaways – where you could meet the world’s top experts and actually apply what they teach to upgrade your life.”
For now, the Health Optimisation Summit plans to stick with two events per year – one in Austin and one in London, but Gray says it could look to expand in time.
He hopes the Austin event will help drive the conversation forward as terms like longevity, biohacking and healthspan continue to force their way into the mainstream.
“Biohacking is still a niche term, but health optimization is the goal,” Gray says. “People align with the goal, and that’s why we’re growing so fast. The summit is mission-led—it’s about empowering people to optimize their health using the best of science, technology, and ancestral wisdom.”
He also hopes it will become an annual gathering spot for longevity and biohacking enthusiasts.
“More than just a conference, it’s become about connecting great humans – because community is the fourth pillar of longevity alongside nutrition, movement and recovery,” Gray adds.
Interested in hearing cutting-edge conversations about the science of healthspan and longevity, along with other fitness and wellness insights? Athletech News will be hosting our own event, the ATN Innovation Summit 2025, this June 17-18 in New York City. Click here to get your tickets today
