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, as well as teaching medical students and residents. During these long and grueling shifts, she realized that something was 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 a 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 chose to become 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 located in Savannah, GA, a practice focused on truly healing chronic illness using functional medicine approaches.

In 2016, Dr. Ross was invited by world renown 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 develop and apply a multimodal therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease patients designed to halt the progression of the disease and in some cases 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 humangenome 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 that would lead to a better solution and potential cure for Alzheimer’s disease. This partnership represented a unique union of science and clinical medicine. Working together they hoped to identify and correct drivers of brain disease, and make an impact on 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. Prior to 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 that they would follow for one year. Dr. Ross’s team of health coaches, dieticians, physical therapists, and neuropsychologists helped implement and follow all of the patients remotely.

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

Dr. Ross recently accepted a position with Thorne HealthTech as their Chief Medical Officer, and is in the process of moving to New York City. She is still intimately involved with BHRI and has a limited number of patients that she will continue to manage 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 ofcognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias. Until there is a dramatic change in the approach of treatment, millions will suffer – placing a devastating financial burden on the economies of the world.