This opinion report - in a series on the future of biodemography - focuses on promising areas that I think will be valuable to develop in the future in order to get a better understanding of the determinants of the health and well-being of elderly people. I discuss two major themes: i) the benefits of strengthening the ties between biodemography and medical-clinical disciplines to better understand the link between functioning/diseases/ vulnerability and mortality, ii) the male-female health-survival paradox (i.e., males report better health than females, but encounter higher mortality at all ages), and how this paradox may shed light on fundamental aging processes.