Dr. Masafumi Ihara

Dr. Ihara is The Deparment Head of Division of Neurology and Deputy Director General of the Hospital, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (NCVC), Osaka, Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University School of Medicine in 1995. He received clinical training at Kyoto University Hospital in 1995 and Nishi-Kobe Medical Center in 1995-1999.

In 1999 he entered Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine and completed a PhD in Neuroscience in 2003. He received his neuropathological training under supervision of Prof. Kalaria in Newcastle University, UK during 2006-2008. He led a neurovascular research group as an assistant professor of Department of Neurology in Kyoto University (2008-2012).

Since he moved to the current Institute in 2013, his research interests have focused on the pathological changes in brain blood vessels and how the alterations impact on brain health during old age. He is a Fellow of the Japanese Society of Neurology, of the American College of Physicians (FACP), and of the American Heart Association (FAHA).

In NCVC, Dr. Ihara is serving as a principal investigator of a multitude of research projects including investigator-initiated clinical trials using cilostazol for mild cognitive impairment (COMCID trial) and adrenomedullin for acute stroke (AMFIS trial) and for CADASIL (AMCAD study).