Assoc. Prof. Erkan Yıldırım was born in 1968 in Diyarbakır. Graduated from Eskişehir Anatolian high School in 1986. Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Anadolu University in 1992, and then completed his service as a practicing physician in 1993 in Denizli. Completed his education to be an assistant in 1998 in the field of Thoracic Surgery in Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Center, Istanbul, and Atatürk Thoracic Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Center, Ankara. Started to work as a specialist in 2000 at the Thoracic Surgery Clinic, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital. Held a chief assistant (senior specialist) in 2001 while working in this position. Worked as Observer Specialist Thoracic Surgeon at Zurich University (Switzerland) in 2002; Toronto University (Canada) in 2004; Leuven University (Belgium) in 2008; and Kyoto University (Japan) in November, 2012. Successfully passed the European Board Certification for Thoracic Surgery-EBTCS held at the 10th Congress of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) and became a fellow of the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons (FETCS) in 2002. Assoc. Prof. Erkan Yıldırım received the Turkish Thoracic Surgery Certificate of Proficiency of in 2003. Successfully completed the stage of scientific file for the “Examination for the Degree of Associate Professor” in the field of Thoracic Surgery in 2007. Actively participated in the Fellowship of Lung Transplantation between 2007 and 2008 (Lung Transplantation Program, Toronto University, Canada; 85 operations for organ receivers, and about 100 operations for organ donors, and also 4 clinical studies (one study was his sole own project). Owner of Turkey’s first clinic study carried out abroad and published in the field of “Lung Transplantation” in January, 2009. (Techniques for lung transplantations and operations to shrink the volume of lungs (Proc Am Thorac Soc 2009 Jan 15;6(1):66–78). Journal Reviewer for the Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery – TGKDC, and the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery – EJCTS since 2002. Actively carrying out four patent studies in cooperation with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boğaziçi. Started to work at his own clinic and the Turkish Aesthetic Clinic (TAC) as of 2022.

Memberships

The Turkish Society for Thoracic Surgery (TGCD)

Fellow of European Medical Specialists (FEMS)

The Turkish Society for Heart and Vascular Surgery (TKDC)

The Scandinavian Society for Research in Cardiothoracic Surgery (SSRCTS)