Joe Metcalf graduated from Emory University in Atlanta in 1986. He earned his M.S. from Emory in Medical Science in 1980. Dr. Metcalf survived his General Surgery Residency and Internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson from 1987-1990.

Dr. Metcalf was certified by the Tennessee State Medical Board in 1991. He became certified as a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons in 1997.

Currently, he is an active physician with the Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, the Fort Sanders Park West Medical Center in Knoxville and the Baptist West Hospital for Women in Knoxville.