Team Members

Dr. Chuan-Ju Liu holds the position of Charles W. Ohse Professor of Orthopaedics, with tenure in the Traditional Track, and serves as the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation at Yale University School of Medicine. Additionally, he is a Professor in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. Before joining Yale, he served on the faculty at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine from 2002 to 2023, where he advanced through the academic ranks from Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor and Full Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and Cell Biology. Dr. Liu leads a highly interdisciplinary research program focused on fundamental and translational questions in musculoskeletal biology and disease. His laboratory investigates how inflammation, aging, and cellular stress pathways drive joint and bone degeneration, with the goal of identifying mechanism-based therapeutic strategies. Major areas of emphasis include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fracture healing, and rare genetic disorders such as Gaucher disease, spanning musculoskeletal, autoimmune, and lysosomal storage diseases. His lab is particularly known for uncovering disease-driving mechanisms in joint tissues and translating these discoveries into innovative therapeutic approaches. Dr. Liu has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Nature and Science. His contributions have been widely recognized, with honors such as the Kappa Delta Award (Orthopaedic Research Society and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons), the Ethelmae Haldan Award for Innovative Science in Osteoarthritis Research (Arthritis National Research Foundation), and the Innovative Research Award from the American College of Rheumatology.