John W. Krakauer

JOHN W. KRAKAUER, the John C. Malone Professor in the departments of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a member of the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, is recognized for his study of the human motor system in health and disease.

Dr. Krakauer’s achievements have included bringing a motor learning paradigm, called visuomotor rotation, into the neuroscience mainstream, discovering the proportional recovery rule for stroke, characterizing a sensitive period of heightened plasticity after stroke, developing new conceptions of motor skill, and devising the notion of implicit motor motivation. His interest in the interface between neuroscience and the areas of philosophy, sport, and art has led to his founding the video gaming company, Max and Haley, and the Johns Hopkins-based project named KATA. Both of these efforts are focused on the creation of customized software and hardware to revolutionize the care of patients with neurological injury and disease, including through the creation of video gaming and of animations that are based on the real physics of animal movement.

Before coming to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Krakauer was a tenured professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience at Columbia University. He received his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his internship in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and his residency in neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York at Columbia University.