Steven Kirshblum, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Steven Kirshblum is the chief medical officer and director of spinal cord injury services for Kessler Institute. Board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and spinal cord injury medicine, Dr. Kirshblum is also the chief medical officer for Kessler Foundation and co-director of its Centers for Spinal Stimulation, Spinal Cord Injury Research, and Outcomes and Assessment Research.

As project co-director of the Northern New Jersey Model Spinal Cord Injury System, one of only 18 federally-designated centers in the country, Dr. Kirshblum oversees the spinal cord injury research and its translation to patient care. He also chairs the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and is a professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, as well as being program director of the spinal cord injury medicine fellowship program.

Dr. Kirshblum is a member of the board of trustees for the American Spinal Injury Association and a past President of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals and American Paraplegia Society. He also serves on numerous advisory boards and foundations for spinal cord research.

Dr. Kirshblum earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and his medical degree from the University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School. He completed a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, and was named chief resident. He joined Kessler Institute in 1990.