José Miguel Medeiros
Partner & Chairman
Government Relations and Institutional Strategy.
Institutional strategy, public affairs and forestry project structuring.
President and CEO, Portugal’s first public forestry company. 2018 to 2021.
Sustainability, longevity and forest management. Consulting, public affairs, brand and innovation.
VALUEGENERATES HEALTHGENERATES WEALTH.
We help turn sustainability projects in longevity and forest management into ventures that can be funded, approved and run. Feasibility, operating models, financial cases, institutional strategy and launch, from partners who have run clinics, a public forestry company and market launches.
Discuss a projectSee the work02 / People
Four people. They do the work.
José Miguel Medeiros, Partner & Chairman, on institutions and forest management. Stephen Watson, Partner & Chief Executive Officer, on longevity and operations. Luis Da Silva, Partner & Chief Marketing Officer, on brand and product, from market entry to launch. Amândio Costa, Chief Financial Officer, on finance.
Stephen Watson
Partner & Chief Executive Officer
Longevity, Wellness Real Estate and Special Economic Zones.
Longevity destinations, clinical operating models, health real estate and zone planning.
Development leadership, planned Blue Zones Center at Miami Worldcenter.
Luis Da Silva
Partner & Chief Marketing Officer
Go-to-Market, Brand and Marketing Engineering.
Commercial planning and brand. Content and product. Marketing automation.
Senior Marketing Engineer, SocAIty.ai. 2026.
Amândio Costa
Chief Financial Officer
Financial planning, accounting, tax and financial modeling.
Chief Financial Officer, General Value. 2021 to present.
03 / We treat health as the asset.
Two sectors. One team.
Longevity and forest management serve different clients and answer to different rules. Each has a lead partner, and the whole team works across both. Start with yours.
For developers, investors and clinic operators planning longevity destinations, clinics and health-led real estate.
We define the care program, the operating model and the financial case before a project opens, so it can be funded, staffed and run.
What we do here
- Destination concept and program
- Development concept and use mix
- Feasibility study
- Clinic or center operating model
- Business case and financial model
- Pre-opening plan
The experience behind it
USD 90 million of project capital raised, approximately, for the planned Blue Zones Center, and 35,000+ patients in the Miami Institute for Age Management’s record. Both come from Stephen Watson’s earlier roles.
Led by Stephen Watson.
For landholders, owners’ associations, municipalities and investors deciding what to do with forest land.
We assess the land, set out how it can be managed, and build the business case and funding route for a pilot, with the institutional work scoped around it.
What we do here
- Land and management assessment
- Management model
- Forestry business case
- Funding eligibility
- EU grant application
The experience behind it
13,800 hectares of state forest land under José Miguel Medeiros in July 2020, as President and CEO of Portugal’s first public forestry company.
Led by José Miguel Medeiros.
04 / Shared capabilities
What we bring to either sector.
A project usually needs some of this work, in roughly this order. Most commissions start with one step, and few need all five.
Test whether it works.
Consulting
Feasibility, market and commercial viability.
Stephen Watson and Luis Da Silva, with Amândio Costa on the numbers.
Explore deliverables: Test whether it works.Build the operating and financial model.
Consulting
Operating model, business plan, financial model.
Amândio Costa leads the financial modeling.
Explore deliverables: Build the operating and financial model.Structure it and find the funding.
Consulting · Public affairs
Jurisdictions and incentives, funding eligibility, investor materials.
José Miguel Medeiros and Stephen Watson.
Explore deliverables: Structure it and find the funding.Take it through the institutions.
Public affairs
Stakeholder strategy, municipal and national coordination, grant applications.
José Miguel Medeiros.
Explore deliverables: Take it through the institutions.Position and launch it.
Brand and innovation
Brand and identity, content, web and campaigns, product and AI. Also commissioned on its own, outside the two sectors.
Luis Da Silva.
Explore deliverables: Position and launch it.
Explore the project: Cicoria
Explore the project: Public forestry company
Explore the project: Praxis Beer
The partners' record.
General Value has been registered in Portugal since 2013. Each figure here is credited to the partners and their earlier roles at other organizations, and none is a General Value result.
23
projects and organizations in the partners' record, each one named
Stephen Watson. José Miguel Medeiros. Luis Da Silva
USD 90 million
of project capital raised, approximately, for the planned Blue Zones Center in Miami. Stephen Watson led its development.
Stephen Watson
35,000+
patients in the Miami Institute for Age Management’s record, a cumulative total. Stephen Watson co-founded the institute.
Stephen Watson
13,800 hectares
of state forest land under José Miguel Medeiros in July 2020, as President and CEO of Portugal’s first public forestry company.
José Miguel Medeiros
72 years
of building and running ventures and organizations, the three partners combined: 27, 36 and 9 years.
Stephen Watson. José Miguel Medeiros. Luis Da Silva
12 companies, 6 countries
in nine years of brand, product and marketing work. Luis Da Silva.
Luis Da Silva
05 / Work
Earlier projects, credited by name.
Clinic operations, public forestry, investment promotion and market launches. Most cases come from the partners’ earlier roles at other organizations; Cicoria is current concept work. Each one states the person, the role and the stage the project reached.
Partner experience
Blue Zones Center
Stephen Watson, development leadership, Blue Zones Center at Miami Worldcenter.
Stephen Watson led development of the planned Blue Zones Center at Miami Worldcenter, connecting its proposed clinical program with hospitality and residences.
Read the case: Blue Zones Center
Partner experience
Founders Health
Stephen Watson, Interim CEO, Founders Health, through December 2025. Luis Da Silva, medical technology and marketing, Founders Health, January to December 2025.
Stephen Watson led the flagship launch at Tempus Belgravia and the clinical operating model. Luis Da Silva wrote the brand guidelines and built the patient portal and marketing systems.
Read the case: Founders Health
Partner experience
Public forestry company
José Miguel Medeiros, President and CEO, Portugal’s first public forestry company, 2018 to 2021.
As President and CEO of Portugal’s first public forestry company, José Miguel Medeiros was responsible for about 15,000 hectares of state forest land in more than 25 municipalities, and turned a scattered estate into a managed forest business with a long-term plan.
Read the case: Public forestry company06 / Five ways to work with us.
Five ways to work with us.
The first two suit a single decision or a defined piece of work. The other three put a partner inside the project for longer, and can tie part of our return to its results.
Sprint
- When it fits
- A decision is due and the facts are not in one place.
- What we do
- Senior partner time on one defined question: a feasibility read, a capital readiness review, a positioning test.
- How we are paid
- Paid for the time. If you continue to a larger commission, the sprint is credited against it.
Deliverable
- When it fits
- You need one thing built to the standard an investor, a lender or an authority will accept.
- What we do
- A named deliverable from the capabilities card, with a responsible lead.
- How we are paid
- Paid in stages, as each agreed milestone is delivered.
Embedded
- When it fits
- The project needs an experienced operator inside the team before it can hire one.
- What we do
- A partner inside your leadership for a standing remit, from an operating role to interim chief executive. Three months at least.
- How we are paid
- Paid for the role. Where both sides agree, part of the payment is equity in the company we help build.
Partnership
- When it fits
- A project worth doing has nobody to originate and lead it.
- What we do
- On selected projects we co-develop as general partner: concept, program and access to capital.
- How we are paid
- Alongside agreed payment for the work, part of our return comes at exit, so it depends on the project's.
Venture
- When it fits
- A funded venture needs founders who have run one.
- What we do
- A partner takes a founding role in the new company: chief executive, chief operating officer or chief longevity officer.
- How we are paid
- Founder's terms: an equity stake, agreed for each venture.
Take the capabilities card with you.
Ten service lines. Thirty-eight named deliverables, including brand and innovation. Download the PDF to review the scope and responsibilities with your team.
Insights
Talks, posts and articles.
The latest from the team. Every piece is published here on the site, with a link to the original.
Talks and posts
Swipe to browse the collection.
- Talk · 24 September 2026
Cascais International Health Forum
Stephen Watson on the panel "Architecture and Housing for Long-Lived Societies", Estoril Congress Center.
About 1 min readRead the piece: Cascais International Health Forum - Post · 8 July 2026
Two AI models rank the theories of aging
Where frontier models agree on the science of aging, and where their rankings cross.
About 2 min readRead the piece: Two AI models rank the theories of aging - Talk · 30 June 2026
Longevity: Past, Present and Future, Bangkok
A talk at the press round table for the launch of the Longevity 5.0 Cloud.
About 2 min readRead the piece: Longevity: Past, Present and Future, Bangkok
Articles
Swipe to browse the collection.
- Article · 29 October 2026
Longevity medicine, sustainable forests and the places we live
What a small Portuguese village did for my health, and why General Value treats sustainability, longevity and forest management as one piece of work.
- Article · 29 October 2026
The forest nobody manages
What I learned running Portugal's first public forestry company, and why General Value treats land, health and financing as one piece of work.
About 6 min readRead the piece: The forest nobody manages - Article · 20 November 2024
The Aging Workforce: A Challenge We Can't Ignore
What longer working lives ask of employers.
About 4 min readRead the piece: The Aging Workforce: A Challenge We Can't Ignore
Longevity research
Swipe to browse the collection.
- Research · July 2026
Demographic transformation in the EU
The Commission's newest evidence on population change in the EU: longer lives, an older population and fewer births, projected to 2100, with the effects on work, pensions, health care, housing and regions.
Selected by Stephen Watson
Our summary · About 1 minRead our summary: Demographic transformation in the EUOpen the report: Demographic transformation in the EU (opens in a viewer or a new tab) - Research · 22 June 2026
Estimates of Resident Population, 2025
Immigration lifted Portugal to 11.4 million residents, which slows the country’s aging but does not stop it.
Selected by Stephen Watson
Our summary · About 1 minRead our summary: Estimates of Resident Population, 2025Open the report: Estimates of Resident Population, 2025 (opens in a new tab) - Research · 22 June 2026
Trusting Generative AI for Health Advice: Preregistered Survey Experiment
When health information comes through AI, credibility still depends on how people judge both the message and its source. In a preregistered experiment with 1,502 US adults, advice attributed to a human nurse was rated more credible than advice attributed to the two AI sources. For General Value, this supports an editorial question: how should a health organisation make its information understandable and accountable as discovery changes? Clear authorship, visible evidence and careful explanations are proposed applications, not outcomes tested here. The study measures responses to hypothetical scenarios, not search visibility, clinical safety or the commercial performance of a brand.
Selected by Luis Da Silva
Our summary · About 1 minRead our summary: Trusting Generative AI for Health Advice: Preregistered Survey ExperimentOpen the report: Trusting Generative AI for Health Advice: Preregistered Survey Experiment (opens in a new tab)
Forest management research
Swipe to browse the collection.
- Research · 28 September 2026
The State of the World’s Forests 2026
FAO makes the economic case for restoring forests and landscapes, while pledges and actual restoration lag far behind the need.
Selected by José Miguel Medeiros
Our summary · About 1 minRead our summary: The State of the World’s Forests 2026Open the report: The State of the World’s Forests 2026 (opens in a viewer or a new tab) - Research · August 2026
Mobilising Public and Private Finance for Biodiversity
The tools governments and public lenders use to raise money for nature, from tax measures and payments for ecosystem services to blended finance and biodiversity credits.
Selected by José Miguel Medeiros
Our summary · About 1 minRead our summary: Mobilising Public and Private Finance for BiodiversityOpen the report: Mobilising Public and Private Finance for Biodiversity (opens in a viewer or a new tab) - Research · 30 June 2026
Relatório de Atividades do SGIFR, 2025
Portugal has fewer fires than before, but a handful of very large ones burn most of the area, and the 2020-2030 national plan was about half done at its midpoint.
Selected by José Miguel Medeiros
Our summary · About 1 minRead our summary: Relatório de Atividades do SGIFR, 2025Open the report: Relatório de Atividades do SGIFR, 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Research spotlights
What the science says.
Each month we pick a few studies that matter for longevity and say how far the evidence has really got.
- Phase 3 trial
A personalized cancer vaccine passes phase 3
An mRNA vaccine built from each patient's own melanoma, given with Keytruda after surgery, cut the risk of the cancer returning or death by about 42% in 1,137 patients.
What it doesn't meanIt hasn't yet shown that patients live longer, and it isn't approved.
Why it matters
Cancer and heart disease are the two biggest causes of death before 65. This shows the step after early detection: a treatment built from your own tumor.
Source: CancerNetwork, October 2026
- Human trial
Aging clocks enter an ordinary drug trial
In a lung fibrosis trial, aging clocks read treated patients' blood roughly three years younger after four weeks. The effect leveled off by week 12.
What it doesn't meanThe authors can't separate slower aging from a treated lung. It is a measurement idea, not an anti-aging drug.
Why it matters
The field has no agreed way to measure aging, which is why no drug can be approved to treat it. Putting aging clocks inside ordinary trials is how that changes.
Source: Lifespan.io, on Nature Biotechnology, September 2026
- Human trial
The cholesterol diet can't touch
About one in five people inherit high Lp(a). A shot every six to twelve months cut it by about 94% in a phase 2 trial, and a phase 3 trial with more than 12,000 people is testing whether that prevents heart attacks.
What it doesn't meanThe heart benefit isn't proven yet. Results are expected around 2029.
Why it matters
One blood test, once in your life, tells you your Lp(a), and European guidelines recommend every adult have it. Most people never have.
- Approved
Alzheimer's drugs move toward prevention
Drugs that clear amyloid slow early Alzheimer's by roughly a quarter to a third. A trial of about 3,000 people with amyloid but no symptoms now tests whether treating early delays dementia.
What it doesn't meanThese drugs slow decline. They don't reverse it.
Why it matters
A blood test can now flag amyloid years before symptoms. The question of whether you want to know is arriving before a prevention drug exists, and it needs a physician's answer.
07 / Discuss a project
Tell us what you are building.
Tell us the project, the place and the next decision. The person who leads that kind of work reviews your inquiry, and the first conversation is about that decision.
From inquiry to a defined commission.
The relevant lead reviews it.
Your project question and selected service identify the person best placed to discuss the work.
We discuss the first decision.
Clarify the project, the information available and the output you need.
We define the scope.
Agree on the deliverables, responsible lead and milestones before the work starts.