Rate My Professor Melissa Kacena

Melissa A. Kacena, PhD, is Chancellor's Professor, Edward H. and Yvonne J. Boseker Professor of Orthopaedics, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Director of the Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health at Indiana University School of Medicine. She leads a team of more than 100 bone and muscle scientists focused on advancing musculoskeletal research. Kacena holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. She also serves as Research Career Scientist at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center. Her academic interests center on bone healing processes, the regulatory role of megakaryocytes and other hematopoietic cells in osteoblast activity, bone formation, fracture repair, osteoporosis, and breast cancer metastasis to bone. Kacena has conducted pioneering investigations into bone healing under spaceflight conditions through collaborations with NASA.

Kacena has obtained over $21 million in grant funding, including three or more NIH R01 awards, and has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications, with an h-index of 42 and over 6,300 citations according to Google Scholar. Select key publications include "Pyk2 Regulates Megakaryocyte-Induced Increases in Osteoblast Number, Bone Formation, and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Engraftment" (Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2013), "Role of Megakaryocytes in Breast Cancer Metastasis to Bone" (Cancer Research, 2017), "MicroRNA-148a-3p is a candidate mediator of increased osteoclastogenesis during aging" (Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2022), and "Role of the Neurologic System in Fracture Healing" (Current Osteoporosis Reports, 2024). She holds one patent with several pending applications and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Current Osteoporosis Reports. Major honors include the 2024 IUPUI Chancellor’s Professor designation, the 2023 Stephen M. Krane Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society, and Secretary/Treasurer-Elected (2023-2026) for the Osteobiology Society. Her contributions enhance predictive biomarkers for fracture nonunion and therapeutic strategies such as thrombopoietin mimetics for improved musculoskeletal health outcomes.