We are excited to welcome Dr. Joe Chakkalakal to the department as an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Cell Biology. Originally from Toronto, Dr. Chakkalakal was raised in Markham Ontario, Canada. Staying close to home, Joe attended York University where he received a BSc in Kinesiology and Health Sciences, and while there, he met his wife Lee who graduated from the same program.
After graduating in 2000, Joe went to the University of Ottawa for graduate school under the supervision of Dr. Bernard Jasmin. Through awards from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Joe was able to provide insights into signaling pathways that regulate pathology in models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Subsequently, he went to Harvard University where, under the supervision of Dr. Joshua Sanes, he studied the development of motor unit homogeneity. Joe says, “While there, I became increasingly intrigued by the contributions of stem and progenitor cells to age-related neuromuscular wasting and regenerative deficits and I moved onto the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Brack at Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine. It is there where I made seminal discoveries into mechanisms leading to muscle stem cell decline with aging.” During his time in Cambridge Massachusetts, Joe and his wife Lee had two of their three children, Vincent and Kya.
“In 2013 I began my first independent academic position at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). At the URMC I continued my research into neuromuscular development, maintenance, and regeneration. During our eight years in Rochester NY I was able to train three successful PhD graduates with a fourth set to defend in the spring of 2022, and two postdoctoral fellows. I found it particularly fulfilling that these mentees were able to contribute to the publication of numerous well-received manuscripts, and have moved onto positions in academia or industry,” Joe says. While in Rochester, NY Joe’s third child Laila was born.
Joe is excited to join the department. “We are set to embark on a new journey in warmer confines. Although this is a big change, we are excited about our new experiences in the Research Triangle as part of the Duke family. We look forward to meeting everyone and hopefully checking out a few basketball games,” he said.