Who is Professor İlhan Paşaoğlu?

Abstract

In the same year, he began specialization education in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at Hacettepe University, becoming a specialist in 1979. After working for two years in that department, he was sent by Hacettepe University to England in April 1981. In London, he worked at the St. Thomas Hospital and the Ryne Institute. His colleagues in London did not want him to return to Turkey. They suggested he stay in London because patients from other countries would go to Turkey instead of England if he went back to Turkey. As a matter of fact, what they thought was true. He had many foreign patients. He returned to Turkey in October 1983 and was assigned as an assistant professor in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at Hacettepe University. He became an associate professor on April 9, 1986. He participated in studies related to cardiac transplantation at the University of Wisconsin in America in 1987. His colleagues also suggested that he should stay there. They told him that the Americans gave him a nickname, "Golden Boy," and if he had stayed, he would have been treated with honor, but he was determined to come back to Turkey. One year later, he returned to Hacettepe University and became a full professor on April 12, 1991. After November 7, 1995 he worked as the Head of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at Hacettepe University. He performed approximately 16,000 open heart surgeries. He also performed tens of thousands of lung and vein surgeries. He educated many successful thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons. He carried out the first cardiac transplant at Hacettepe University, and he performed the first heterotopic heart transplant in Turkey. He published more than 100 articles in Turkish and international journals and presented more than 100 papers at various congresses. He was