Makoto Ishii, MD, PhD

Makoto Ishii is a board-certified neurologist and an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience and Neurology at the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and Department of Neurology at the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He studied chemical engineering as an undergraduate at Princeton University before completing the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program (Weill Medical College of Cornell University/Rockefeller University/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). In his PhD studies at Rockefeller University, Dr. Ishii studied novel pathways in the brain that regulate appetite and body weight. After receiving his MD from Weill Cornell Medical College, he completed his residency training in neurology at New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was also chief resident. Since finishing his clinical training, he has returned to the research laboratory to combine two of his main academic interests: Alzheimer’s disease and how the brain controls body weight. His current research program involves investigating the complex interactions between body weight/adiposity and Alzheimer’s disease in the hopes of identifying novel pathways that may shed new into this currently incurable and devastating disease. Dr. Ishii is extremely grateful for the research support received from the BrightFocus Foundation and its generous supporters.