Mehmet Akçakaya was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He went to Robert College for high school, moved to Montreal for undergraduate studies at McGill University, where he graduated with great distinction and Charles Michael Morssen Gold Medal. He got his PhD degree in May 2010 under the supervision of Professor Vahid Tarokh in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Harvard University.He was a post-doctoral fellow at BIDMC CMR Center between 2010-12, and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School between 2012-15.