OPENING REMARKS

Semra Kahraman, M.D.

Prof. Semra Kahraman obtained her medical degree from Hacettepe University in 1981, and a specialty degree in obstetrics and gynecology in Ankara University Medical School in 1989. After practicing ART related techniques in Norway and Belgium, she founded the Sevgi Hospital ART Unit, Ankara in 1993 and Istanbul Memorial Hospital ART & Reproductive Genetics Centre in 2000. She has also practiced ART-related techniques in Cornell University and Reproductive Genetics Institute, in USA.

She has been working for more than 12 years in assisted reproduction and human embryology. During this period, through intensive work and worldwide collaborations with senior scientists, she and her team successfully realized numerous novel ART applications and obtained first pregnancies in Turkey in cases such as severe male infertility, testicular spermatozoa retrieval, embryo freezing and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Besides these pioneering works, the Centre has also been assigned as a certified centre of education by Ministry of Health in human ART and IVF in Turkey. This important step also enabled the Centre to become one of the biggest ART clinics nationwide as well as worldwide. She and her team recently founded a research and development unit in the Centre, focusing on embryonic and adult stem cell research. Novel stem cell lines and techniques are now being designed for in order to extend research towards therapy.

Prof. Kahraman is an active member in several societies including ASRM, ESHRE and APART and one of the founding members of the Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis International Society. She has been assigned as an Editor in Reproductive Biomedicine Online and referee of numerous scientific Journals including Human Reproduction and Fertility and Sterility. She has been appointed as Associate Professor at Ankara University Medical School in 1994 and received her Professorship in 2004 from Yeditepe University School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is also a member of the Turkish Ministry of Health High Council on Assisted Reproductive Technology. Semra Kahraman has published more than 150 papers in Turkish and international scientific journals, more than 10 book chapters and two books. She has become a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences and seminars.