Prof. İLYAS OKUR

Prof. Dr. Ilyas OKUR

Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara

Prof. Dr. Ilyas Okur was born in Ordu in 1975. He received his medical education at Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine between 1992 and 1998. He completed his specialty training in the Department of Child Health and Diseases at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine in 2004. In 2005, he served as a Child Health and Diseases specialist at the T.C. Ministry of Health Bayburt State Hospital. Between 2005 and 2010, he worked as a subspecialty fellow and faculty member in the Division of Pediatric Nutrition and Metabolism at Gazi University. Following his military service in 2010, he completed his state service obligation as a Pediatric Metabolism specialist between 2011 and 2014, during which he worked at the T.C. Ministry of Health Istanbul Kartal Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital and the Ankara Child Health and Diseases Hematology-Oncology Training and Research Hospital. He was awarded the title of Associate Professor in January 2014. In March 2014, he began working as an Associate Professor of Pediatric Metabolic Diseases in the Division of Pediatric Nutrition and Metabolism at Gazi University and attained the rank of Professor on December 1, 2021.

Between 2019 and 2022, he served as a member of the Faculty Executive Board and the Faculty Council. He served as the Year 3 educational coordinator for five years and held roles as the chairman of the National Medical Accreditation Education (UTEAK) sub-commission and a board member of the National Core Education Program (UÇEP). He also served as the vice-chairman responsible for notifications on the Clinical Research Ethics Committee and as a member of the Measurement and Evaluation Ethics Committee at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine. Starting May 28, 2020, he served as the Vice Dean responsible for education for three years, covering the COVID-19 pandemic and the major Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, concluding this role on May 27, 2023. He completed his tenure as the Vice Chief Physician of Gazi University Hospital (Health Research and Application Center), a position he was appointed to on March 19, 2025, on April 20, 2026.

He has been a board member of the Turkish National Pediatric Society (TMPD) since 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, he served as a member of the supervisory board for the Pediatric Nutrition and Metabolism Society. From 2020 to 2025, he served as a member of the Human Medicinal Products Clinical Commission at the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) of the T.C. Ministry of Health, where he continues to serve on various other commissions.

Prof. Dr. Okur acts as a principal or co-investigator in more than twenty preclinical, observational, clinical drug, and gene therapy projects regarding hereditary metabolic and rare diseases, most of which are international Phase studies. He is the principal investigator for intracerebral Phase 1-2 enzyme application studies for Mucopolysaccharidosis Type 3B (Sanfilippo syndrome) and a co-investigator for Phase 1 gene therapy trials for GM1 Gangliosidosis. He has numerous scientific articles, citations, and presentations published nationally and internationally, along with awards for scientific posters and oral presentations. He is the editor of two books in the fields of nutrition in pediatric special cases and hereditary metabolic myopathies and has authored chapters in many textbooks on pediatrics and pediatric metabolism. He has served as an invited speaker and session chair at many national and international congresses and has been a member of the organizing committees for the Turkish National Pediatrics Congress, "A Day of a Pediatrician" Congress, and the International Lysosomal Diseases Congress. Between 2012 and 2023, he served as a section editor for the Turkish Journal of Pediatrics and Diseases, and since 2022, he has been on the editorial board of the Turkish Journal of Pediatrics (SCI-Expanded). In October 2024, the international Phase drug trials conducted under his leadership at the Gazi University Division of Pediatric Metabolism were honored with the 2024 YÖK Excellence Award in the category of Institutional Social Responsibility.