Mehmet Haberal (born 1944), is the founder of

Başkent University Başkent University ( tr, Başkent Üniversitesi) is a private university in Ankara, Turkey. The university was founded on 13 January 1994 by Professor Dr. Mehmet Haberal. The University center is located in Ankara and also has Medical and Resea ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, best known for becoming the first transplant surgeon in Turkey after leading the team that performed Turkey's first living-related

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...

in 1975, after he returned from surgical training under the mentorship of American surgeon Thomas Starzl, with whom he also performed some of the longest surviving early liver transplantations. Just over a year after returning from the States, he established a network of centres for dialysis for people with

end-stage kidney failure Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a type of kidney disease in which a gradual loss of kidney function occurs over a period of months to years. Initially generally no symptoms are seen, but later symptoms may include leg swelling, feeling tired, v ...

and then, in 1978, led the team that performed Turkey's first kidney transplantation using a kidney from a deceased person. After successfully lobbying for changed laws in Turkey, his team performed the first local deceased-donor kidney transplantation at Hacettepe University in 1979. His role in the passing of further legislation led to Turkey's first deceased donor liver transplantation in 1988 and the first living donor liver transplantation in 1990.

Early life and education

Mehmet Haberal was born in 1944,“What is my Crime?”
Professor Mehmet Haberal’s Oral Silivri Deposition. Mete Akyol (Editor). Ankara: Can Matematik Yayınları. 9 September 2011. in Pazar, Rize, Turkey. As a child, he initially aspired to becoming an engineer until his second year at high school, when he changed his mind to medicine. In 1967, he graduated from

Ankara University Medical School Ankara University Medical School is a medical school located in the Sıhhiye district of Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a popu ...

, and in June of that year, became resident at the Department of General Surgery at the Medical School of Hacettepe University.

Surgical career

During his residency, he became interested in general surgery and the management of burns and subsequently co-authored the paper "Results obtained from the application of 0.5 per cent silver nitrate solution in the treatment of burns", published in the ''

Journal of Turkish Medical Society A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' in 1970. During this time, he also started experimental liver transplantations. After completing his

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

in 1971, he was appointed Assistant Professor at Hacettepe's Department of General Surgery, where he also became Associate Professor in 1976 and full professor in 1982. He completed his fellowship in burns at the Shriners Burn Institute and

John Sealy Hospital __NOTOC__ John Sealy Hospital is a hospital that is a part of the University of Texas Medical Branch complex in Galveston, Texas, United States. History Sealy opened on January 10, 1890. It was founded by the widow and brother of one of the rich ...

in Galveston, Texas (1973) before training under Thomas Starzl at the

Colorado University The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

Medical School Transplantation Center, Denver (January 1974 – June 1975). Four of the liver transplantations he performed with Starzl, went on to survive more than 40 years with their transplanted livers. After Starzl's death in 2017, Haberal described him as "my guide and my inspiration".

Kidney and liver transplantations

In June 1975, when he returned from the States, he met with founder and president of Hacettepe University,

İhsan Doğramacı Professor İhsan Doğramacı (3 April 1915 – 25 February 2010) was a Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in today's Erbil, Iraq then Ottoman Empire ...

, and a transplantation unit was set up."40th Anniversary of Kidney Transplantation in Turkey"
MESOT News. March 2016, p. 3. Haberal became the first transplant surgeon in Turkey. On 3 November 1975, he led the team that performed the first renal transplantation in Turkey, where a living mother donated a kidney to her 12-year old son. Just over a year after returning from the States, he established a network of centres for dialysis for people with

Starzl, Thomas E. (2013)
“Tribute to Professor Mehmet Haberal”
Turkish Transplantation Society. Silver Anniversary of the first liver transplantation in Turkey. and then on 10 October 1978, he led the team that performed Turkey's first kidney transplantation using a kidney from a deceased person, donated by the

European Transplant Foundation European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

(ETF). On 27 July 1979, his team performed the first local deceased-donor kidney transplantation at Hacettepe University. The donor kidney came from a person who was killed in a road traffic accident. Until this time, kidneys came via the ETF and often had extended cold ischaemia times. Haberal had, in the interim, and before the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, lobbied and worked with Turkish government officials and religious boards, until a law, legislation no. 2238, passed on the “harvesting, storing, grafting, and transplanting of organs and tissues”. It legalised the diagnosis of brain death and meant that kidneys could be acquired from a local supply as an alternative to importing from Europe. However, the lack of donors, meant that Europe was still relied upon. He was subsequently a key navigator in the passing of the 1982 legislation no. 2594, which led to the first deceased donor liver transplantation in 1988 and the first living donor liver transplantation in 1990. From 1975, over the next 18 years, he co-ordinated 931 transplants across Turkey and developed an organ-sharing database from Ankara. By 2015 there were 45 liver transplantation centers in Turkey.

Establishments

He founded the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation (MESOT) in 1987, along with its official journal ''Experimental and Clinical Transplantation'', the

Turkish Transplantation Society Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

in 1991,

in 1993"Transplantation in Turkey"
''Transplantation'', Başkent University. of which he became president, and the

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in 2012. He established the International Haberal Transplantation and Education Foundation (IHTEF) (2013) to support the work of the 2008

Declaration of Istanbul The Declaration of Istanbul was created at the Istanbul Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism held from 30 April to 1 May 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Declaration clarifies the issues of transplant tourism, trafficking and commercial ...

(DoI) on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism, of which he is a member of the Steering Committee]. He is the only Turkish citizen to be elected as an Honorary Foreign Member of the

American Surgical Association The American Surgical Association is the oldest surgical organization in the United States. History It was founded in 1880. Their publication, ''Annals of Surgery'', was started in 1885. A collection of the association's papers are held at the Nat ...

and the Institute of Medicine of the United States National Academy of Science.

Political activities

On 13 April 2009, Haberal was detained by the police, along with others suspected of involvement in an anti-government group known as

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

. In 2011, he was elected Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Turkish Grand National Assembly, representing

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It was established in 1849 as a port town for the nearby coal mines in Ereğli and the coal trade remains its main economic activity. According to the ...

as a member of the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, abbreviated CHP). However, at the time of his election he was in prison awaiting

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...

. On 5 August 2013, he was cleared and released from a 12.5 years' imprisonment sentence in the Ergenekon case. He had already served time from 2009. On 1 October 2013, he assumed his parliamentary seat."Decision adopted by the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians at its 152nd session (Geneva, 23 January to 3 February 2017)"
Inter-parliamentary Union. Turkey He served in parliament until the following election in 2015, at which time he chose not to be a candidate.

Awards and honours

* 1985: Everett Idris Evans Memorial Award from the American Burn Association.Haberal M. (1986) Electrical Burns: A Five-Year Experience-1985 Evans Lecture. ''Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery'' 26(2):103-105 *2017: Distinguished Philanthropist Award by the American College of Surgeons.

Selected publications

Haberal has authored close to 2 000 Turkish and English scientific publications, including six books.

Articles

“Ex vivo renal perfusion and autotransplantation in treatment of calculous disease or abdominal aortic aneurysm”
''Urology''. Vol. 5, Issue 3 (March 1975), pp. 337–342. Co-authored with Charles W. Putnam, Charles G. Halgrimson, Derek P. Stables, Ronald Pfister, Robert W. Beart Jr., Gauke Kootstra, Dale Atkins and Thomas E. Starzl.

Burns

"Results obtained from the application of 0.5 per cent silver nitrate solution in the treatment of burns"
''Journal of the Turkish Medical Society''. Vol. 36, Issue 8 (1970), pp. 302–9. rticle in Turkish . Co-authored with C. Topuzlu, and A. Gülgönen.
"Electrical burns: a five-year experience--1985 Evans lecture"
''Journal of Trauma''. Vol. 26, issue 2 (February 1986), pp. 103–109.
"Epidemiological survey of burns treated in Ankara, Turkey and desirable burn-prevention strategies"
''Burns''. Vol. 21, Issue 8 (December 1995), pp. 601–606. . Co-authored with U.Uçar and N.Bilgin

Transplantation

"Living unrelated donor kidney transplantation between spouses"
''World Journal of Surgery''. Vol. 16, issue 6 (November 1992), pp. 1183–1187. Co-authored with Huseyin Gulayy, Rifat Tokyay, Zafer Oner, Tayfun Enunlu and Nevzat Bilgin.

References

External links

What is my crime
* ttp://www.baskentuniversity.com/brochure/eng/organ-nakli-ing.pdf Milestones of Organ Transplantation in Turkey {{DEFAULTSORT:Haberal, Mehmet 1944 births Living people People from Pazar, Rize Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Deputies of Zonguldak Turkish surgeons People convicted in the Ergenekon trials Başkent University faculty Turkish prisoners and detainees Journalists imprisoned in Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Turkish business executives Inmates of Silivri Prison Politicians arrested in Turkey Ihsan Doğramacı Family Health Foundation Prize laureates