Michael E. Charness MD

Dr. Charness earned his B.Sc. in Psychology from McGill University and his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Neurology and currently serves as a Professor of Neurology as well as the assistant dean to the VA Affairs of School of Medicine.

Dr. Charness served as Chief of Neurology at the Brockton-West-Roxbury VA and the VA Boston Healthcare System for several years. He became Chief of Staff in 2003. Additionally, Dr. Charness has served as a member of numerous advisory boards including the National Institutes of Health (NIH, served as president of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) and chaired the Alcohol-Toxicology 3 Study Section. His research interests include researching alcohol’s effect on the nervous system as well as the development of drugs that block alcohol toxicity. He currently directs the NIAAA-funded Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and chairs the external advisory board for the NIH-funded Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.