About Mehmet Haberal
Mehmet Haberal (born 1944), is the founder of Başkent University in Ankara, Turkey, best known for becoming the first transplant surgeon in Turkey after leading the team that performed Turkey's first living-related kidney transplant 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 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, 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, 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 in 1970. During this time, he also started experimental liver transplantations. After completing his residency 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.
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