Professor Byron A Kakulas graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1956. After residency training at Royal Perth Hospital, he specialised in clinical neurology. Being interested in research he soon realised that a thorough knowledge of pathology was essential in order to break new ground, thus he decided to gain a second specialist qualification in that area.

In the interim he was confronted by a paralytic disease in a small marsupial, the Rottnest Island Quokka, which became the subject of his doctoral thesis. He found that the disorder was due to breakdown of muscle resulting from vitamin E deficiency thus discovering the hitherto unknown power of muscle to regenerate. This was a momentous breakthrough since it demonstrated the potential for all muscle diseases including muscular dystrophy to be curable. This had the effect of stimulating world-wide research in the field.

Having chosen the nervous system and muscle as a challenging area he pursued further expertise in neuropathology at Harvard Medical School, joining Dr Raymond D Adams (Head of Neurology) at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he was Chief Resident in Neuropathology from 1963 to 1965. He later co-authored a reference book on muscle disease with Dr Adams which was published in 1985.

With this experience he returned to his hometown of Perth, Western Australia where he established academic neurology and neuropathology in service and research.

He founded the Muscular Dystrophy Association of WA in 1967 and the Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute (now the Perron Institute) in 1982, becoming the Medical Director of both organisations. He was appointed Professor of Neuropathology (1971) and then Dean (1978) at the University of Western Australia becoming Emeritus in 2006. As Head of Neuropathology, Royal Perth Hospital from 1966-2002, he was recognised for the training of Australian and International neuropathologists. 

Among many scientific advances he is attributed with the discovery of Inclusion Body Myositis as a clinical entity. His seminal work in describing the neuropathology of spinal cord injuries provides a basis for Restorative Neurology. He has received many honours and awards including Officer of the Order of Australia, an Honorary Doctorate of the University of Athens, the Gaetano Conte Prize and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Federation of Neurology. He is also a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary.

He is the author, co-author or editor of eight monographs and over 400 scientific publications.