Prof. Okan Akhan
Dr. Okan Akhan is a professor of Radiology at Radiology Department at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. Okan Akhan was born in Birecik in 1956. Dr. Akhan pursued his medical education at Hacettepe University, Eskişehir Faculty of Medicine and graduated in 1981. After living in England for a year, he returned to Ankara and started his residency in radiology at Hacettepe University. He completed his residency in the end of 1987, became an assistant professor in 1988, an associate professor in 1989 and a professor in 1996 at the same university. During his classical angiography education in 1984-1985, there weren’t any centers for interventional radiology apart from classical angiography in Turkey. He went to Lund University/Sweden Radiology Department to study interventional radiology and abdominal imaging. After his return to Turkey, he founded the first interventional radiology unit within the Radiology Department at Hacettepe University in 1987. Since then, he has been working in non-vascular interventional radiology and in abdominal radiology fields. He also worked as a visiting professor in Catholic Louven University in Brussels, Belgium for half a year in 1997.
Dr. Akhan is committed to training the next generation of radiologists and teaches medical students and residents on all levels. He is a member of five international Radiology Associations. He was one of the board members of CIRSE (Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe) and ESGAR (European Society of Abdominal and Gastrointestinal Radiology). He worked as the chairman of National Committee to organize the CIRSE 2003 meeting in Antalya, Turkey. Dr. Akhan was the president of the congress in ESGAR-2008 and BCR-2009 (Balkan Congress of Radiology) congresses. He also worked in various committees of ECR (European Congress of Radiology) such as PPC (Program Planning Committee) he served for ECR-2008. He has been serving as a member of Scientific Program Committee of Balkan Society of Radiology for last 3 years.
Dr. Akhan is a member of five national societies in the field of Radiology. He founded the Turkish Society of Interventional Radiology with his some colleagues and served as the president between 2001 and 2005. He was elected as the president again in 2008 and he has been the president since then. Dr. Akhan was also elected to be the president of Turkish Society of Radiology for two years in December, 2009.
Dr. Akhan has served for “Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology” Journal between 2001 and 2010 as the Editor-in-Chief. He has been working as the Editorial Board Member at CVIR and European Journal of Radiology, as well as a referee in eight international and seven national scientific journals.
His works were awarded ten times in national and international meetings. He was honored as a “fellow” by the CIRSE and ESGAR. He was elected as the “Honorary Member” of the Hungarian Society of Radiologists in 2008. Same year, he was awarded the “Certificate of Merit” by ESGAR for his work in the field of abdominal radiology. Dr. Akhan was selected as an associate member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences in 2000 and he was honored to be accepted as a full member to Academy in 2008. He has been chairing the “Human Rights Committee” and “Publishing Committee” within the organization.
Dr. Akhan is the author or co-author of over 150 articles published in the peer-reviewed journals and 120 oral or poster presentations presented in the international scientific meetings and congresses. His articles have been cited more than 1400 times. He has given more than 100 invited lectures in international meetings and congresses. Moreover, he is also the author or co-author of over 100 articles published in the Turkish journals and over 200 oral or poster presentations presented in the national scientific meetings and congresses. He has also been invited as a lecturer more than 100 times in national meetings in Turkey. He has written 15 book chapters in Turkish and in English.
Dr. Akhan is one of the founders of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey and has been in the Board since 1990. He was one of the pioneers to have founded more than 5 treatment centers for torture victims in Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. He volunteers actively in the treatment of victims. He is one of the authors of “Torture Atlas” written on the subject of torture. He worked as a Council Member of IRCT (International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims) between 1993 and 2009. He is still a volunteer activist for peace and human rights.
Dr. Akhan has been married to Elif for ten years. They have a daughter, İdil, who is 9 years old. He loves traveling, reading, cinema and tennis. He is also a wine lover who enjoys spending some time for wine tasting in vineyards.
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