Associate Professor of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology
Research Health Scientist
Atlanta VA Health Care System, Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation
Investigator, Birmingham/Atlanta VA GRECC
Dr. Madeleine E. Hackney, Ph.D, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a Research Health Scientist at the Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation and Associate professor of Medicine, in the division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Hackney aims to optimize physical rehabilitative strategies, in terms of movement pattern and timing, dosage, duration, intensity and the role of a partner to enhance balance, mobility and quality of life for older adults with movement disorders. She believes better understanding of neural mechanisms underlying rehabilitative strategies will further these goals. She has received funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the NIH, the NSF, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Parkinson Foundation and the CDC. She frequently reviews grant applications for the VA and the NIH, and recently revised for the National Endowment for the Arts. Her research has received media coverage in the New York Times, Scientific American, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, National Public Radio and in Musicophilia, by Oliver Sachs. Dr. Hackney has presented her work about exercise and dance for those with PD and older adults nationally and internationally, including at the Karolinska Institute Nobel Forum, in Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, and Kyoto. Recently she presented webinars for conferences in Italy and Denmark. She was awarded the Selma Jeanne Cohen Dance Lectureship from the Fulbright Foundation in 2016.