Izi Stoll received bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Psychology from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, then earned her doctorate in Neurobiology and Behavior from the University of Washington in Seattle. After moving to England to conduct post-doctoral research in cellular bio-energetics, she started her own lab at Newcastle University, where she led a talented team of researchers to develop new therapeutic interventions for neurological disease. This work involved developing new small-molecule therapeutics for malignant brain tumors and gene therapies for the treatment of epilepsy. Her research has garnered awards from the Society for Neuro Oncology and The American Federation for Aging Research.

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With over twenty years of experience in neuroscience research, Izi is adept at using a range of molecular-, cellular-, systems-level, and mathematical approaches to understand brain function in health and disease. She has a particular interest in how physical systems distribute energy to accomplish computational work, and she is especially passionate about studying the intersections between biology and mathematics, physics, and computation. 

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Izi founded the Western Institute for Advanced Study to support theoretical research into historically-intractable problems in science, and she tackled the Institute's first Grand Challenge to get the momentum rolling. Now, as Scientific Director, she enjoys devising the Institute's Grand Challenges and recruiting Fellows to tackle these big questions. Her mission is the same as the Western Institute's: to employ a highly interdisciplinary approach to addressing scientific questions, by systematically exploring the possible solution space between established fields.