Marco A. Grados

Dr. Marco A. Grados is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Tourette Syndrome Center of Excellence at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins Medicine. With a career spanning over two decades at Johns Hopkins, he has established himself as a leading researcher in the genetic epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome.

Dr. Grados completed his undergraduate and medical training in Lima, Peru, followed by internship and residency at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit. He joined Johns Hopkins in 1994 as a child psychiatry fellow and chief resident, and later earned a Master's of Public Health in genetic epidemiology from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. After six years as medical director of outpatient programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute, he now focuses primarily on research in genetic epidemiology of OCD and related disorders.

His research interests center on the genetic basis of OCD and Tourette syndrome, with significant contributions to large-scale genetic studies including the OCD Genetics Consortium and Tourette Syndrome Association International Genetics Consortium. He also investigates autoimmune aspects of OCD and uses Cornelia de Lange syndrome as a model to understand autism and obsessive-compulsive traits. His work has been published in high-impact journals including Nature Genetics, Biological Psychiatry, and American Journal of Medical Genetics.

Dr. Grados has received substantial research funding, including a five-year Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (2002-2007), support from the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation, and funding from the CdLS-USA Foundation. His recent work in 2025 includes genome-wide association studies identifying genetic loci associated with OCD and tic disorders, as well as important research on Cornelia de Lange syndrome.

• Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (2002-2007)
• Active funding from Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation for autoimmune OCD research
• Support from CdLS-USA Foundation for Cornelia de Lange syndrome research

As Co-Director of the Tourette Syndrome Center of Excellence, Dr. Grados bridges clinical care and research, providing expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of Tourette syndrome while advancing our understanding of its genetic underpinnings. His work on the intersection of genetics, neuroimmunology, and behavior continues to shape our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders.