Dr. Mary Kay Ross

Dr. Mary Kay Ross obtained her medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She started medical school as the youngest of her three sons began kindergarten. Dr Ross then completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at Wright State University, where she served as chief resident.

Starting her career as a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, she worked in numerous Level I trauma centers and taught medical students and residents. During these long and grueling shifts, she realized something terribly wrong with our current medical model. It became apparent that the burden placed on the system by chronic illness could not adequately be treated by being band-aided.

Dr. Ross started a boutique wellness clinic, “Live Well MD,” in 2008 to teach healthy lifestyles to her patients and provide them with unique and personalized wellness programs. The popularity of this approach resulted in an explosion of new patients exceeding many thousands.

In 2012, Dr. Ross found herself on the other side of the medical system. She herself became a patient. As a result of very serious mold exposure, she was shocked to find she had developed a life-threatening chronic medical condition, forcing her to give up the emergency room she loved so much.

Instead of accepting a handful of dubious prescriptions to heal herself, Dr. Ross became educated in Functional Medicine. This changed her practice of medicine and her career forever. That same year, Dr. Ross founded The Institute for Personalized Medicine in Savannah, GA, a practice focused on truly healing chronic illness using functional medicine approaches.

In 2016, Dr. Ross was invited by world renowned neuroscientist Dr. Dale Bredesen, MD, to join his team at MPI Cognition as the founding Chief Medical Officer. Together, Dr. Ross and Dr. Bredesen were able to developtimodal therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease patients designed to halt the progression of the disease and, in some cases, and apply a mul reverse the disease. In August 2018, Dr. Bredesen sold his company, and Dr. Ross opted not to join the new organization.

Dr. Leroy Hood, MD, one of the world’s top scientists (inventor of the human genome sequencer and recipient of The National Medal of Science awarded by President Obama), invited Dr. Ross to come to Seattle, WA, to open the Brain Health & Research Institute. BH&RI would partner with Dr. Hood’s Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) to look for underlying clues leading to a better solution and potential cure for Alzheimer’s. This partnership represented a unique union of science and clinical medicine. Working together, they hoped to identify and correct drivers of brain disease and impact the global burden of brain illnesses.

Dr. Ross and her team moved to Seattle, WA. Things were going well until COVID-19 hit, stopping the ability to see patients in person. Before COVID, patients flew into Seattle for a two-day evaluation by the team of experts at BHRI. Once the evaluation was completed, the patients were given a personalized program they would follow for one year. Dr. Ross’s team of health coaches, dieticians, physical therapists, and neuropsychologists helped implement and follow all patients remotely.

Post-COVID, Dr. Ross and the team have artfully taken the entire program online. They have developed small group educational classes that meet biweekly and cover topics surrounding the multimodal program, including diet/nutrition, mindfulness, brain exercises, sleep, and brain-centric physical exercise taught by the physical therapists. All patients also undergo individual pillars of the coaching and PT meetings one-on-one via Zoom. BHRI is now a coaching and patient education company.

Dr. Ross recently accepted a position as chief medical officer with Thorne HealthTech and is in the process of moving to New York City. She is still intimately involved with BHRI and will continue managing a limited number of patients in her concierge practice.

Dr. Ross and her team are very passionate about brain health and feel that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are a worldwide medical emergency, only increasing in number. She works tirelessly to help her patients and strives to find less cumbersome cures and treatment protocols.

After 450 failed “Big Pharma” drug trials, she is convinced that traditional medicine is on the wrong track. She is confident that there are multiple drivers of cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias. Until there is a dramatic change in the approach to treatment, millions will suffer – placing a devastating financial burden on the world’s economies.