Craig Blackstone, MD, PhD Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Craig Blackstone, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Movement Disorders Division Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine during their annual meeting on October 17^th, 2022. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Dr. Blackstone's research focuses on investigating the cellular pathogenesis of neurogenetic disorders, particularly the hereditary spastic paraplegias. His group has identified disruptions in key cellular pathways common to several types of these disorders that are being targeted with new therapies.  These studies have also provided fundamental insight into the normal appearance and functions of cellular organelles. 

He joins Drs. Merit Cudkowicz, chief of the Neurology service, Brad Hyman, John B. Penney, Jr. professor of Neurology, Reisa Sperling, professor of Neurology, and Anne B. Young, former chief of the Neurology service, as Mass General Neurology faculty members with this prestigious honor.

Dr. Blackstone has been Chief of the Movement Disorders Division at Mass General since 2020. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Chicago as well as MD and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After a neurology residency in the Harvard-Longwood Neurology Program, he pursued clinical fellowship training in movement disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and postdoctoral research training in neurobiology with Dr. Morgan Sheng at Harvard Medical School and HHMI. In 2001, Dr. Blackstone joined the National Institutes of Health, rising to Senior Investigator and Cell Biology Section Chief within the NINDS Neurogenetics Branch, where his group investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inherited movement disorders there for two decades. He was also long-time Director of the NIH MD-PhD Partnership Training Program. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians as well as an elected Fellow and past Vice President of the American Neurological Association.