Regional President:
WONCA Europe 2018-21
Prof Mehmet Ungan (Turkey)
Mehmet Ungan is a specialist in family medicine working
both in his practice and also in a university department as an academic.
He was one of the founders of the Turkish Association of Family
Physicians (TAHUD) in 1990, and is also a past president of TAHUD. Now,
he is Honorary Secretary of the Turkish Family Medicine Board, a member
of the WONCA Europe Executive Board representing its Research Network
(EGPRN) of which, he is the vice chair.
What work are you doing currently?
Like many others in the family medicine world, I have a very busy
schedule. The main part of my day is comprised of seeing patients, both
in my practice and in the Medical School, and with lots of training
activities. I’m a professor in the Department of Family Medicine,
founded in 1993, one of the pioneers in my country. Our department
belongs to Ankara University School of Medicine which was founded in
1945 - the first one for the young Turkey after the Ottoman Empire. We
are almost 30 residents, two assistant professors and two family
physician specialists involved in educational activities. We provide
educational programs for first, fifth and sixth grade medical students,
and run five family medicine outpatient clinics. Our department centre
is located in Avicenna (Ibn-İ Sina) Hospital of Ankara University
Medical School.
As well as my position in the university, I have a private family
medicine clinic affiliated with a well-known laboratory chain, in
Ankara. There, with other family physicians, we have been providing
services mainly to embassies, foreigners, those preferring private
services for periodic health screening, health screening of immigrants
and refugees, and school and occupational health activities.
What other interesting activities that you have been involved in?
I do not know if it is interesting for all, but the rest of my work is
all about research in primary care. Since 1998, I have been a member of
the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN), which is a
network of the WONCA Europe. We have two meetings a year in different
European countries. Creating the research agenda for European Primary
Care was one of the collaborative works of EGPRN in which I have enjoyed
a lot.
ESPCG (Special Interest Group on Primary Care Gastro) is another group
in which I feel comfortable due to having a common research and clinical
interest.
For the past four years, I have been attending some of the CDC
(American) training, especially on tuberculosis and migrant health, and
trying to undertake research on related subjects. For example, I was one
of the partners of the European project on HIV/AIDS trainers training;
the osteporosis project of International Atomic Energy (for Turkish
data), and the European FP/GP burnout study. Nowadays I am studying
latent TB infection screening among different migrant populations.
What are your interests in work and outside work?
I am afraid I don’t have interesting things to tell you away from work :-).
My special interest areas at work are migrant health, tuberculosis,
gastrointestinal diseases, primary health care research, FM education
& training, information & communications technology, health
promotion & disease prevention. I have been implementing IT tools
with other disciplines to make research on daily work possible through
proper data management. In this way I really enjoy looking at
retrospective data and improving the service we provide in primary
health care, mainly on behalf of the patients but also for the
physicians.
Outside of my professional work, I try to make sports as a lifestyle, to
enjoy the good quality and taste of the Turkish kitchen, and travelling
around Turkey which has endless attractions in each city.
Like many of my colleagues, I am also a dedicated father and husband.
I’m lucky to have my wife, who is also a family physician and one of the
founders of the TAHUD. She has supported me a lot not only as my wife,
but also as a good family physician. We have a 13 year old son and a 21
year old daughter who is studying Law. Sometimes, I realise that I
should find more time to spend with them.
You are interested in the history of medicine and you love Istanbul – both seem relevant to the coming WONCA Europe conference?
As a physician I am interested in history of medicine. In Turkey we live
on a land which has hosted many civilizations. As written in many text
books, one of the earliest known medical schools opened in Datca
(Cnidus) in 700 BC and that had an ‘organ’ based approach. Just 30-40
minutes distance by boat in Kos, the ‘generalist’ approach of medicine
began 300 years later, around 400 BC. The region is important for the
history of holistic and comprehensive care.
You might remember the Trojan war in ancient history (1194–1184 BC) and
also the very sad Dardanelles Campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli of
World War I that took place in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 - 1916.
The mountain Ida (Kaz Daği) is near the site of ancient Troy and the
Dardanelles. From its highest peak, about 1,800m, the gods are said to
have witnessed the Trojan War. Those living there "stay young" as it is
known to have the highest oxygen concentration in the world after the
Amazon. It is a paradise of olives and olive oil, which is the food of
the gods. Balneology (Latin:
balneum "bath"), the science of
the therapeutic use of baths in ancient medicine, is still alive there,
where also my family has a summer house. One month every year, we go
there with our children, to refresh ourselves for the new work year. We
are luck to have sea, sun, fish, olive oil, good food, fun and history
all in the same environment, near the Ege sea.
My country has many attractive sights to see for those interested in the
history of humans and science. As well there are places to be in
nature, or enjoy the sea life (sailing and diving), mountain life,
plants, caves etc. I have been all around the world, but nowhere is more
attractive than Istanbul in my eyes. Walking around Istanbul streets
and still discovering the city with endless secrets is unbelievable.
Taking photos of the city while travelling in between the Asian and
European sides by a regular boat has always been a real hobby for me.
Also drinking Turkish tea and eating simit, while sharing some with the
seagulls on the boat, is one of my favourite moments.
World family physicians are lucky to visit Istanbul during the next
WONCA Europe conference and I hope they may see my Istanbul.
ex oriente lux*!
* out of the East, light