Biography

Biography

Prof. Dr. İbrahim Vargel was born in 1955 in Nazilli district of Aydın. He spent his primary, secondary and high school years in Nazilli. He entered Gazi Education Institute in 1973 and graduated from the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology in 1977. He taught in many secondary education institutions. He started studying at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 1979 and completed his medical education in 1986. After completing his compulsory service, he started his specialty training as a research assistant at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 1990 and completed his assistantship training in 1997. He started Turkey’s first ‘Advanced Plastic Reconstructive Surgery Sciences Doctorate Program’, which was established in 1998 within the Hacettepe University Health Sciences Institute. He completed his Doctorate program (PhD) in Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery in 2003 and concentrated on this field in his later career.

He worked as a faculty member at Kırıkkale University, Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery between 2005 and 2012. Meanwhile, he served as chief physician and head of the department at KKU Medical Faculty Hospital. He received his subspecialty in ‘Hand Surgery’ in 2011 and ‘Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery’ in 2012. In 2012, he completed the Craniofacial Surgery ‘DAFPRS Clinical Fellowship’ program at Erasmus University Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam (Netherlands). In 2014, he participated in studies on ‘Tissue Engineering and Regenerative, Restorative Medicine’ at the University of Pittsburgh McGowan Regenerative Medicine Institute with a YÖK scholarship.

At the end of 2012, he returned to Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery as a faculty member. During this period, he served as Research Center Director, Head of the Department of Bioengineering, and undergraduate and postgraduate education lecturer. His main areas of interest are craniofacial anomalies and their surgical treatment, orthognathic surgery, diagnosis and treatment of vascular anomalies, and tissue engineering. He gave lectures and consultancy to students of the Faculty of Medicine, specialist students and master’s/doctoral students in the Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery and Bioengineering.

He carried out field screening, phenotype-genotype studies and clinical studies of these congenital anomalies on patients with craniofacial anomalies in Konya, Antalya and Hatay regions. He has carried out years-long studies and inventions included in the OMIM Catalog in the diagnosis and treatment of anomalies due to Elmo 2 gene, ALX gene, X chromosome-linked strabismus gene and IL11 gene mutation.

Dr. Vargel served in various positions on the board of directors of the Turkish Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Association (TPRECD). He served as president of TPRECD between 2020-2022. Dr. Vargel is an active member of many international professional organizations of plastic surgery (EURAPS, ECFSA, ISAPS and ASPRS). He has worked as an executive/researcher in TÜBİTAK, TÜSEB, European Union Crani-rare and Expert Tissue projects and still continues his work. He is a term member of the research council of the European Association of Plastic Surgeons (EURAPS). Dr. Vargel has 112 published articles, 21 chapters/books, many completed/ongoing projects, patents and awards. According to Google Scholar, his H index is 28 and his total number of citations is approximately three thousand. He retired from HÜTF Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Department in November 18, 2022. Dr. Vargel is married and father of one daughter. In addition to the private medical practice, he is working as a lecturer at Hacettepe University Institute of Science, Bioengineering Division.