Prof. Tayfun Özçelik Appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Science
Prof. Tayfun Özçelik has been appointed as the dean of the Faculty of Science, effective May 1. Prof. Özçelik will take over the position from Prof. Hasan Erten, who has served as dean since 1995.
Announcing the new appointment, Rector Prof. Abdullah Atalar paid tribute to Prof. Erten's accomplishments during his long tenure as dean:
"I am grateful to Prof. Hasan Erten and thank him for his exemplary efforts and services as the Dean and his valuable contributions that have brought the Faculty of Science to its current level.
"I congratulate Prof. Tayfun Özçelik, who has successfully carried out his duties, and wish him every success in his new position."
Prof. Erten, as outgoing dean, expressed his appreciation of the efforts of his colleagues in the Faculty of Science:
"I would like to thank all members of the Faculty of Science for their dedication and commitment to this point. As a result of their extraordinary efforts, we have made the Bilkent University Faculty of Science one of the most respected academic units in the country. I wish them well in their future endeavors."
Incoming dean Tayfun Özçelik earned his MD degree from İstanbul University in 1986. During the 1990s, he pursued postdoctoral studies at Munich, Yale and Stanford Universities, and wrote a Specialty in Medical Genetics Dissertation at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford Medical Center. He returned to Turkey in 1992 and established the Department of Genetics at the Institute for Experimental Medical Research-DETAM, İstanbul University. He joined Bilkent University in 1995.
His research interests include human molecular genetics, gene mapping and genotype-phenotype correlation studies in humans. He played a seminal role in the identification of the genes responsible for Prader-Willi syndrome, Charchot-Marie-Tooth disease, MLH1 deficiency and Unertan syndrome spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders. In addition, he identified the role of X chromosome inactivation mosaicism in female predisposition to autoimmunity as exemplified by scleroderma, autoimmune thyroiditis, preeclampsia and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Prof. Özçelik conducted the first DNA identification studies in Turkey in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and directed a genetic testing laboratory providing diagnostic services for hematological malignancies, metabolic disorders and neurological conditions.
Prof. Özçelik works closely with colleagues at Hacettepe, Ankara, İstanbul, Çukurova and Başkent Universities as well as Bilkent. In addition, he is collaborating with research groups at the University of Washington and Yale University in the US, Cambridge University in the UK, Bethlehem University in Palestine, Tel Aviv University in Israel, Siena and Bologna Universities in Italy, Universite Saint-Joseph in Lebanon, the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies in the UAE, Demokritos in Greece and the University of Marseilles in France.
He has published articles in journals such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Genome Research and Blood. His work has received more than 2,800 citations in SCI-indexed journals and in numerous books, reviews and editorials. He has authored 25 locus entries in the major reference source book and database entitled "Mendelian Inheritance in Man." He has also advised 25 PhD/master's dissertations; his students hold academic positions at Istanbul, Hacettepe, Acıbadem, Ankara, Uludağ and Kocaeli Universities as well as the University of Washington and the Medical University of New Jersey.
Prof. Özçelik is a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences, board member and chair of the education committee of the European Society of Human Genetics, and past president of the Turkish Society of Medical Genetics. He represents the Turkish Society of Medical Genetics at the International Federation of Human Genetics Societies.
We wish Prof. Özçelik every success in his new administrative position.