Li Gan

Dr. Li Gan is the Director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Distinguished Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases. She earned her Ph.D. from Yale University and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and the Gladstone Institutes at UCSF. Prior to joining Weill Cornell in 2018, she was a Senior Investigator and Associate Director at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and a Professor of Neurology at UCSF.

A renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Gan has made transformative discoveries in neurodegeneration, focusing on proteostasis, brain innate immunity, and sex-specific vulnerabilities. Her research defined how aberrant tau acetylation disrupts neuronal proteostasis and drives toxicity. She mapped the first tau interactome in human iPSC-derived neurons, uncovering synaptic and mitochondrial dysfunction, and identified the UFMylation cascade as a key regulator of tau propagation using CRISPRi screens. Her work on microglial biology highlighted the role of hyperactive cGAS-STING and NF-κB pathways in cognitive decline. She also pioneered studies on sex-specific mechanisms in  innate immunity, demyelination and neurodegeneration, emphasizing the need for tailored therapies.

With over 100 publications and multiple NIH-funded projects, Dr. Gan has received numerous accolades, including the Helis Prize for Parkinson’s Research, the Inge Grundke-Iqbal Award for Alzheimer’s Research. She also serves on editorial boards and global grant review panels and was honoured with the Jessica M. and Natan Bibliowicz Award for Excellence in Mentoring Women Faculty.