Aziz Sancar
Aziz Sancar, a Turkish doctor who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015 for his research on how cells repair damaged DNA and maintain their genetic information, is a professor at the University of North Carolina's Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
Aziz Sancar, who was born in Mardin, Turkey in 1946, started to continue his studies in the United States after graduating from Istanbul University's Faculty of Medicine. He is the first Turkish member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Aziz Sancar, who also conducts intensive research on metabolism, genetics, obesity, and diabetes, donated the Nobel Prize he won in 2015 with his words to Anitkabir, where the Tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is located. His words were:
"It was the educational revolution of Ataturk and the Republic of Turkey that led me to this award. Therefore, the winner of this award is the Anitkabir Museum, which represents Ataturk and the Republic of Turkey.”
Gazi Yasargil
"Neurosurgeon of the Century"
A professor, who is identified as such by the American Surgical Association, Dr. Gazi Yasargil is known as the founder of brain and neurosurgery in the modern medical world.
Gazi Yasargil, who was born in Diyarbakir on July 6, 1925, received his medical degree from Ankara University's Faculty of Medicine. He later settled in Switzerland, where he made significant contributions to the field of neurology at the University of Basel. In the following period, Gazi Yasargil, who was also the chief doctor at the University Hospital of Zurich, continued his studies at the University of Vermont and Arkansas in the United States.
Dr. Gazi Yasargil, a professor who has made a great deal of contribution to the training of thousands of brain and neurosurgeons, still continues to teach and accept patients at Yeditepe University's Department of Brain and Neurosurgery today.
Mehmet Oz
Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of the most well-known doctors in the USA with his television show The Oz Show, is a very important cardiovascular surgeon.
Mehmet Oz is a Harvard University School of Medicine graduate who was born on June 11, 1960, in Cleveland, where his father served. Mehmet Oz is a doctor who works in the area of complementary medicine and specializes in minimally invasive heart surgery, heart valve and aortic surgery, and coronary by-pass.
Mehmet Oz and his team at Columbia University invented a device called "mitraklip," which allows patients to avoid open heart surgery unless it is absolutely necessary. This is a significant advancement in the medical community, as everyone knows that open heart surgery is a high-risk surgery. In addition to all of these accomplishments, Mehmet Oz is an excellent health communicator, providing scientifically sound and practical health advice in a language free of medical jargon.
Gokhan Hotamisligil
Gokhan Hotamisligil, who graduated from Ankara University's Faculty of Medicine in 1986, has been working at Harvard University since 2005.
With his many important articles exploring the causes of common metabolic disorders such as cardiovascular diseases and obesity, Hotamisligil is a very respected name in the international medical community. He discovered a hormone called "lipokine" that has the potential to eliminate diseases such as diabetes and fatty liver.
His research on the change of intracellular structures and the roles that this change plays in diseases has laid the foundation for numerous drug development programs. Hotamisligil has received numerous awards from many medical organizations, such as the American Diabetes Association and the International Obesity Association, and has more than 200 scientific articles under his belt.
Omer Ozkan
Professor. Dr. Omer Ozkan is a plastic surgeon who is well-known in Turkey and around the world for his effective aesthetic surgeries in the field of Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. Ozkan is best known for performing Turkey's first facial transplant, as well as the world's first double arm transplant and the first uterus transplant from a cadaver. The fact that a woman who had a uterus transplant by Omer Ozkan became pregnant and had children nine years later confirms Ozkan's success.
Ozkan, who continues to work in areas such as facial and body aesthetics, breast reconstruction, repair of tissue losses, and repair of facial muscles after a stroke, currently lives in Antalya.
Münci Kalayoglu
Munci Kalayoglu, the president of the Memorial Sisli Organ Transplant Center, has an international reputation for his success in the field of organ transplantation and pediatric surgery and is regarded as one of the world's most important doctors, particularly in the field of kidney transplantation and liver surgery in children.
Kalayoglu, who served in the United States for many years and performed the first pediatric liver transplant operation at the University of Wisconsin, also successfully performed the world's first and only Siamese twin separation surgery in the same years. Kalayoglu has also made a significant contribution to the invention of the Belzer UW fluid, which allows organs to be stored for longer periods of time before organ transplant surgeries.
