About

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan ERSÖZ

He was born in Diyarbakır in 1985 to a surgeon father and an English teacher mother. His father, Dr. Ekrem Ersöz, was a urology specialist who served as chief physician at Diyarbakır State Hospital for many years. It must have been a very good example for him because our teacher Hasan had set his mind on not only becoming a doctor but also a surgeon since his childhood. After completing primary and secondary school in Diyarbakır, he passed the science high school exams and finished high school at Çanakkale Science High School in his mother’s hometown.

Afterwards, due to his family’s special situation, he returned to his hometown after being accepted to Dicle University Faculty of Medicine with a score that would allow him to enter Hacettepe Medical School in the university entrance exam. The last year of his 6-year medical education coincided with the period when his father started experiencing lung disease. For this reason, he was interested in becoming a thoracic surgeon with an idealistic approach and being the best in this field. Despite getting high scores in the first TUS exam, he chose this department that was generally chosen by his colleagues who got low scores, and he went to Izmir, Dokuz Eylül University, the city where he would continue his life.

Who could have guessed that in addition to the three thoracic surgery clinics that existed in Izmir at that time, he would later establish a fourth clinic fully equipped and become the Head of a Department that would change the fate of Izmir in this regard?

After a successful 5-year assistantship, he completed his compulsory service at Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, again in Izmir, due to the assistantship status of his wife, who was also a physician. Those who know Izmir know that; while Suat Seren Chest Diseases Hospital is right across from Tepecik Hospital, no one goes to Tepecik Hospital for chest diseases. Only patients who are very risky to operate on, patients with additional diseases at an advanced age, started coming to Hasan Hoca and said, “Let’s ask across the street” when they were told that they could not be operated on at Suat Seren.

Hasan ERSÖZ, who had his first specialization experience in such an environment, bravely undertook the risks and difficulties of these patients and operated on them without turning any of them down. The beautiful results began to attract attention. He did not remain indifferent when the Dean of Katip Çelebi University at that time asked him, “Would you like to do a much more comprehensive clinic establishment job at Atatürk Training and Research Hospital than the one you have accomplished in one and a half years at this hospital?” Because this department had never been established at Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, the most established hospital in Izmir, and it was a great deficiency for such an important hospital. It was not easy for them to find a professor who would undertake this burden and succeed in this job. Dr. ERSÖZ, who was passionate about his job and loved excitement, accepted this difficult task without blinking.

After her husband’s term in Izmir was completed and her transfer to Katip Çelebi University was delayed due to bureaucracy, she returned to Izmir again after a short-term experience at Manisa State Hospital, this time with the title of “Assistant Professor” and the title of “Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery – Founding Faculty Member”.

She knew how difficult her job was when she started her new position. Because the clinic didn’t even have a pair of scissors. She didn’t even have a secretary to do the correspondence necessary for the establishment of the clinic. Everyone around her was approaching her with statements like “Why did you go to this department? There is no previous surgery, no patient records, no database… How are you going to publish in this state? How are you going to become an associate professor?” However, she never took refuge behind excuses. She worked hard. She had to explain her projects and plans to every new administration at the university and hospital, where the head physician, dean and rectors were constantly changing due to the winds blowing from bureaucracy. Because every new administration approached her with suspicion and distrust because she became the head of the department at a young age. However, with his persistent diligence and the services he produced, he managed to gain the trust of each administration.

First, he rolled up his sleeves by learning the EBYS system, where he would do correspondence. On the one hand, he was trying to persuade the administrations to fix all the deficiencies of the clinic, he was handling the correspondence and bureaucratic work, on the other hand, he was performing surgeries by putting his patients in beds in other wards in the clinic that did not have a service, and on the other hand, he was trying to complete his publications by conducting animal experiments in the clinic that did not have a database in order to become an associate professor. While doing all these, he was also teaching the Thoracic Surgery Courses of the students of Katip Çelebi University Faculty of Medicine on his own.

Moreover, he did not hinder his own development in this intense environment. In January 2019, he went to Shanghai, China, to Dr. Diego Gonzales Rivas, the pioneer physician of closed lung surgery. Due to his close friendship with him, he learned all the technical secrets of the job from Diego.

Dr. Ersöz and his close friend Dr. Gonzales Rivas

When he returned, everyone told him that he had to do 50 surgeries with a mentor, but the instructor who would be his mentor came to the USA with an offer