Makoto Ishii, M.D. Ph.D.

Dr. Makoto Ishii is a board certified neurologist and a physician-scientist dedicated to both patient care and biomedical research focusing primarily on neurodegenerative and neuroendocrine disorders.  Dr. Ishii sees patients in the clinic as a member of the Alzheimer’s Disease & Memory Disorders Program at Weill Cornell Medicine.  He conducts his research primarily in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine, where he is the head of a laboratory and the principal investigator for several ongoing studies on the role of body weight and neuroendocrine hormones in early Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Ishii earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and is a graduate of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program receiving his doctorate degree (PhD) from Rockefeller University and his medical degree (MD) from Weill Cornell Medical College.  He received his clinical training as a neurology resident at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he was also chief resident.  After his residency, Dr. Ishii received a Leon Levy Neuroscience Fellowship to conduct his initial research studies, which were the first to demonstrate that amyloid-beta, a major pathogenic factor in Alzheimer’s disease, can disrupt specific brain cells in the leptin pathway, an essential regulator of body weight, leading to body weight and metabolic deficits prior to any cognitive dysfunction.  Ongoing studies continue to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the body weight and neuroendocrine deficits in Alzheimer’s disease.  Additional information regarding his research can be found at: https://brainandmind.weill.cornell.edu/ishii-laboratory

Based on these early achievements, Dr. Ishii was awarded the Paul B. Beeson Clinical Development Award in Aging, an extremely prestigious honor, where he joins past recipients who are currently top academic leaders in the field.  The Beeson Award is jointly supported by the National Institute on Aging (part of the NIH) and private foundations including the American Federation for Aging Research and The John A. Hartford Foundation.  In addition, Dr. Ishii’s laboratory is funded by an Alzheimer’s disease research grant from the Bright Focus Foundation.