Izumi Maezawa, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
UC Davis Medical Center
M.I.N.D. Institute
2805 50th St.
Sacramento, CA 95820
Ph: 916-703-0392
e-mail

  • Microglia Biology and Therapeutic Targets in Alzheimer’s Disease and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Dr. Maezawa was a licensed pharmacist in Japan. Because of her strong interest in biomedical sciences, she came to the U.S. to pursue an academic career and obtained her Ph.D. in Pathology at the University of Washington in 2005. She subsequently moved to UC Davis Department of Pathology and worked with Dr. Lee-Way Jin in the M.I.N.D. (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute for autism research. Dr. Maezawa is currently an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Pathology. Dr. Maezawa has a strong interest in microglial biology. Her pioneer work on glial abnormalities in Rett syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, provides a link between epigenetic regulation and glial function. Current projects in her laboratory are aimed at finding molecular targets on microglia for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and Rett syndrome. She is co-inventor of several small molecule drug candidates for these disorders. Dr. Maezawa’s laboratory is funded by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute of Health.