Headshot of John W. Krakauer.

John W. Krakauer

Director of the Centre for Restorative Neurotechnology, Champalimaud Foundation
Professor of neurology, Johns Hopkins University

John Krakauer is director of the Centre for Restorative Neurotechnology at the Champalimaud Foundation and John C. Malone professor of neurology, neuroscience, and physical medicine and rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University. He is also an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Krakauer is a world leader in motor control and stroke recovery, and his work bridges the gap between basic neuroscience, creative engineering and the philosophy of mind. At the Champalimaud Foundation, he leads the “software as medicine” initiative, using immersive animation, generative artificial intelligence and digital neurotherapeutics to treat chronic neurological and psychiatric conditions. 

He is co-inventor of the “MindPod Dolphin,” an FDA-listed neuro-rehabilitation technology licensed to MindMaze. He is also the author of “Broken Movement: The Neurobiology of Motor Recovery after Stroke” (MIT Press) and is currently writing a new book on the nature of intelligence for Princeton University Press. His research and unique approach to “exergaming” for brain health have been profiled in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Brain registers spatial location outside hippocampus

A more complex picture of how an animal’s brain tracks its location is starting to emerge.

By Natalia Mesa
5 November 2026 | 1 min watch
Illustration of worm on top of a purple rock with neurons in the background.

The three-banded panther worm is rewriting the story of brain evolution

The animal has a brain structure all its own, according to a 2026 preprint. The finding hints that brains could have evolved centralization before regionalization.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
4 November 2026 | 7 min read

Does cognition happen in brain areas or between them?

Michael Cole explains how "brain flows" are the fundamental units of brain function and cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
4 November 2026 | 1 min read