Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Dr. Chaikof was born and raised in Toronto and earned BA and MD degrees at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He completed a residency in general surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and while a surgical resident, received a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a focus on artificial organs and the design of biomaterials for reconstructive surgery. Following his surgical training in Boston, he completed additional training in Vascular Surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine where he joined the surgical faculty, most recently holding the John E. Skandalakis Chair of Surgery at Emory University, serving as Chief of Vascular Surgery and Director of the Residency in Vascular Surgery. While at Emory University, Dr. Chaikof held secondary appointments as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and was a member of the faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

In 2010, Dr. Chaikof was appointed as the Johnson and Johnson Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A surgeon and biomedical engineer, he is a member of the Wyss Institute of Biological Inspired Engineering and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He is internationally recognized for his many original and innovative contributions to vascular surgery through his basic science, clinical, and translational studies. He has changed the way in which patient with aortic aneurysms are evaluated and treated. His work in biomedical engineering and materials science has lead to the development of an advance generation of cardiovascular materials, devices, cell based therapies and pharmacotherapeutics based upon the principles of biomimetics, molecular and tissue engineering, as well as micro- and nanofabrication technologies. In 2013, he was the recipient of the Clemson Award for Applied Research from the Society for Biomaterials. Dr. Chaikof is the Editor of the Atlas of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy: Anatomy and Technique, published by Elsevier in English, Portuguese, and Mandarin editions. In 2014, Dr. Chaikof was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

Lab web site: http://chaikoflab.org/