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Madeleine E. Hackney, PhD, BFA (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor
Emory University & Atlanta VA
Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Madeleine Hackney has observed and guided the movement of hundreds of individuals, ages 2-95. Teaching, training and studying movement formed the basis to pursue graduate studies in Movement Science at Washington University, where she received her PhD in 2009. Currently, she is a VA Research Health Scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Emory Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. Dr. Hackney uses laboratory and clinical measures to evaluate physical and cognitive function before and after training to gain insight into mechanisms of improvement and impairment. Such evaluation includes the characterization of spatiotemporal parameters of gait under ‘preferred’, and challenging conditions (e.g., backward walking and dual tasking), computerized posturography to assess static, dynamic and reactive balance responses and memory tasks.
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 tenured Associate professor of Medicine, in the Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, a Research Health Scientist at the Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation and an Investigator with the Birmingham/Atlanta VA Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center. In 2022, she became an inaugural Research fellow for the Emory University Science Gallery Atlanta. 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 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 about older adults, movement disorders, and physical activity combined with the arts in Italy and Denmark. She was awarded the Selma Jeanne Cohen Dance Lectureship from the Fulbright Foundation in 2015, was a finalist for the 2016 Atlanta Magazine's Groundbreaker of the Year and received the Emory Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology Ambassador in Aging award in 2022. Dr. Hackney received an inaugural Emory Senior Vice President for Research award to lead an interdisciplinary/intercollegiate investigator team exploring the mechanism underlying rhythmic movement, music and the potential for brain plasticity. She was also selected as one of two Science Gallery Atlanta fellows from Emory and is charged with developing outreach programs to attract students between the ages of 18-24 to pursue advanced training and scientific inquiry.

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