The Big Meeting Took Place: BAU Medicine Opens

The Bahçeşehir University Medical Park Göztepe Hospital Complex, which aims to achieve many firsts in medical education in Türkiye, will make Turkish medicine a world center of health and science. Bahçeşehir University School of Medicine will invest 50 million dollars in the field of health in its first year.

Bahçeşehir University (BAU), Türkiye's face to the world in education through its investments abroad, has signed a cooperation agreement with Medical Park, one of Türkiye's largest hospital chains, for its school of medicine, which will begin admitting students in the new academic year.

The launch meeting held at the Bahçeşehir University (BAU) Medical Park Göztepe Hospital Complex was attended by Bahçeşehir University Chair of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel, Medical Park Hospitals Group Chair of the Board Muharrem Usta, Bahçeşehir University President Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın, Bahçeşehir University School of Medicine Dean Prof. Dr. Türker Kılıç, President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies Prof. Dr. Peter Black and Harvard University Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Genetics Specialist Prof. Dr. Charles Stiles.

The Bahçeşehir University Medical Park Göztepe Hospital Complex, which aims to become one of the world's leading research centers through the cooperation of these two authoritative brands in their fields, will both train physicians who will serve in every corner of Türkiye and bring to the scientific world people who will make important discoveries in medicine. The cooperation pioneered by BAU and Medical Park Hospitals will also pave the way for important discoveries in medicine. With the agreement, Medical Park Göztepe Hospital will serve as an important training and research hospital.

Students who choose BAU Medicine with the aim of specializing in medicine in Türkiye and achieving important worldwide success will continue their education and research at the Bahçeşehir University Medical Park Göztepe Hospital Complex. In addition, thanks to collaborations with the world's most important universities, students will have the opportunity to gain international experience.

During their education, students will have the opportunity to do 1 year of research at the Harvard University Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a 1-month clinical internship at Harvard University every year, work and research at the University of Geneva Heart Health Center, research at the Yale University Neurogenetics Laboratory, work at the University of Florida Anatomy Laboratories and biomedical research at Stanford University. In addition, students attending the preparatory class will receive their English education at Bahçeşehir University's campuses in Washington DC and Toronto.

A REVOLUTIONARY OPPORTUNITY IN MEDICAL EDUCATION

Bahçeşehir University School of Medicine offers its students a revolutionary opportunity in medical education. With the elective medical education system, students will receive the same education in the first two years and, after the second year, will branch into different fields in line with their goals. In the"elective program education", which will be a first in medicine in Türkiye, the programs divide as follows at the end of the second year:

• MD program (6 years): The goal is to train excellent physicians. Students will be trained as highly qualified medical doctors of our country.
• Research-oriented MD program (6+1 years): The goal is to train research-oriented physicians. In this program, students will spend one year doing research at an important laboratory abroad (such as the Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute or the Geneva Heart Health Laboratories). Publication of the research in an international journal is the success criterion for this year. Depending on the student's success, the duration (including the research year) may also be 6 years through methods that create extra time, such as summer schools.
• MD-PhD Program (6+2 years): The aim of this program is to train physician-scientists who look at basic and clinical sciences from a researcher's perspective. Two years of the four-year doctoral education are scheduled within medical education, and the 2-year thesis-research period of the PhD is added to the end of the 6-year period. The thesis period is completed with a scholarship at laboratories with international cooperation (such as the Yale University Neurogenetics program, the Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Cancer Research Laboratories, the University of Florida Anatomy Laboratories and the University of Geneva Heart Health Laboratories). This program aims to train qualified scientists and faculty members at the international level.

ENVER YÜCEL / CHAIR OF THE BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES:

"With a new breakthrough, we have opened our school of medicine, which we decided on a long time ago. In the coming academic year, we will welcome our first students. Our aim, of course, is to train good doctors and good scientists. However, due to the economic crises in the world, if important initiatives and breakthroughs cannot be made in the field of health, we will face a bad chaos in the future. Economy and health need to be considered together. With this in mind, we are making an investment. With this investment, we intend to invest in basic medical science, which is one of the fundamental aims of medical science. In the first year, we will invest a minimum of 50 million dollars in basic medicine. There is a new development in Türkiye every day. With this cooperation, we are now finding solutions in the labyrinths of medical science in Türkiye and making important discoveries. We want to turn this area, where the Bahçeşehir University Göztepe Medical Park Hospital Complex is located, into a very important center where medical science flourishes. With this cooperation with Medical Park Hospitals Group, we are taking a very important step for Türkiye and the world."

MUHARREM USTA / CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF MEDICAL PARK HOSPITALS GROUP:

"Today is a very important day for us. The cooperation we have established through affiliation between Bahçeşehir University and Medical Park Hospitals Group is a milestone in Türkiye. This affiliation is by no means a cooperation arising from any ordinary need in Türkiye. As BAU and Medical Park Hospitals Group, we are signing a very important cooperation and will set an example for affiliations that other companies will make in the coming years. In the affiliation period that is just beginning in our country, our responsibilities are very, very high. The minimum investment of 50 million dollars to be made in basic medical sciences is a very significant figure. In Türkiye, with an investment of 50 million dollars, giant industrial initiatives and the first steps of giant factories are taken. This is the kind of goal the BAU School of Medicine is setting. With this important cooperation, we are setting out on a path on which very important steps will be taken for medicine. From now on, private hospitals will be organizations that want to be the home of medical science, compete to train students and try to contribute to the country through competition, and structures that set out with a great vision to exist on a global scale. Everyone will now see that the word 'private' in front of private hospitals will take on very different meanings than known until today. Therefore, this cooperation with Bahçeşehir University is very important in turning these hospitals into homes of science. With this dynamic structure, we will make BAU Medicine the most ambitious school of medicine in Türkiye. We are setting out on a journey to achieve important successes in medicine in this region and in the world."

PROF. DR. ŞENAY YALÇIN / BAU PRESIDENT:

"As Bahçeşehir University, we aim to establish Türkiye's best school of medicine, to train professional healthcare personnel who will provide international-quality services and to pioneer groundbreaking scientific studies not only in Türkiye but throughout the world. At the same time, we believe that, as in other fields, we will produce new and contemporary health policies at the national and international level in health and medicine and contribute to the sector. In this context, by deciding to carry out its clinical work with Medical Park, Türkiye's largest and most effective hospital group, the BAU School of Medicine continues to add new links to the chain of cooperation it is developing abroad with highly respected medical and health centers such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Florida and Geneva. As Bahçeşehir University, we will crown all our programs in the field of health with our BAU School of Medicine, which will admit students in the coming academic year."

PROF. DR. TÜRKER KILIÇ / DEAN OF THE BAU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE:

"Two names that are Türkiye's leaders in their fields have joined forces and achieved a very important first in Türkiye. BAU Medicine is setting out to become Türkiye's best school of medicine. Our students will learn not only to care for patients and become physicians but also to conduct scientific research. They will work together with renowned Turkish and international scientists at our research center from the first year. Students who wish will prepare not only for TUS but also for the American USMLE exam, and will do a clinical internship at Harvard Medical School in the first year. In this high-quality education and research environment, our students, together with carefully selected faculty members, will undoubtedly help us make Turkish medicine a world brand."