Dr. David S. Goldstein is a world-renowned neuroscientist and internationally recognized authority in autonomic medicine and neurocardiology. He currently serves as a Senior Investigator at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and directs the Autonomic Medicine Section at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. After graduating from Yale College in 1970, he completed an M.D.-Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1976 followed by medical training at the University of Washington. He joined the NIH in 1978 as a Clinical Associate in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, obtaining tenure as a Senior Investigator in 1984, and transferred to NINDS in 1990 to establish and lead the Clinical Neurochemistry Section which later evolved into the Autonomic Medicine Section.
Dr. Goldstein's pioneering research has fundamentally transformed understanding of autonomic and catecholamine-related disorders through his groundbreaking discovery of cardiac sympathetic denervation in Lewy body diseases including Parkinson's disease. His work has established critical biomarkers for predicting Parkinson's disease development through assessments of central and cardiac catecholamine deficiency as demonstrated in his prospective longitudinal PDRisk study. With more than 650 publications cited over 50,000 times including more than 135 articles each cited more than 100 times, his research represents a paradigm shift in recognizing autonomic failure as an early indicator of neurodegenerative processes. His single-authored e-textbook Principles of Autonomic Medicine has become an essential resource for clinicians and researchers worldwide advancing the scientific understanding of autonomic regulation and dysfunction.
Beyond his research contributions, Dr. Goldstein directs the UCNS-accredited Clinical Fellowship in Autonomic Disorders at the NIH Clinical Center training the next generation of specialists in this critical subspecialty. His strategic goals focus on establishing autonomic medicine as a distinct clinical and scientific discipline while promoting patient-oriented research on autonomic and catecholamine-related disorders. He has received numerous prestigious honors including the Society for Clinical and Translational Science Distinguished Investigator Award and the American Academy of Neurology Irwin Schatz Award in Autonomic Disorders for his transformative contributions to the field. Currently leading prospective natural history studies on Lewy body neurogenic orthostatic hypotension, he continues to investigate disease progression mechanisms and early intervention strategies that could significantly improve outcomes for patients with neurodegenerative disorders.
