Gail Ishiyama, M.D.

Meet the Researcher

Gail Ishiyama received her medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship under head and neck surgery - neurotology to understand the neurochemistry of the auditory and vestibular system, and where she is now a clinician-scientist in the department of neurology.

Dr. Ishiyama was also a 2016 Emerging Research Grants recipient.

The Research

UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Cellular and molecular biology of the microvasculature in the macula utricle of patients diagnosed with Ménière’s disease

To investigate the microscopic structure of the vasculature (blood vessel system) of balance organs from patients with intractable Ménière’s disease. Ishiyama’s hypothesis is that altered biochemical pathways affecting the vasculature of the blood labyrinthine barrier—which protects the inner ear from toxins and infections—may cause a dysfunction of the inner ear, leading to hearing loss and vertigo. 

Ishiyama’s recent research revealed structural cellular changes in the blood labyrinthine barrier of the utricle, a balance organ, in Ménière’s patients. This project continues the work by detailing the cells and biochemical pathways that are altered in Ménière’s disease. This will provide greater information on the blood labyrinthine barrier and allow for the development of interventions that prevent the progression of hearing loss and stop the disabling vertigo in Ménière’s disease patients.