After attending schools in different parts of Turkey, I got a B.Sc. in Animal Science from Ankara University as a natural sequel to education I got in Soke Agricultural Technical High School, the best high school of its kind, which I am very proud to be an alumni.  With the full support of Turkish Government, I attended Iowa State University and received M.Sc.in Animal Science with Quantitative Genetics concentration.  After M.Sc., I decided to study molecular biology and I did some research on genetic disease resistance to avian leukosis virus sub group J at the University of Delaware.   I came to the University of North Carolina in 2001 and started working in Chuck Perou’s lab on genetics of breast cancer subtypes defined by gene expression profiles of tumor samples taken from breast cancer patient.  After working in Chuck Perou’s lab for 3 years, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in cancer biology and joined the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine  in the Fall of 2004.  I am currently working with Dr. Young Whang who is interested in characterizing the role of cytoplasmic signaling pathways in regulation of androgen receptor activity and progression of prostate cancer.

In my spare time (which hardly exists) I like to draw (more like pretend to draw) with my daughter, Cisem, who is a natural born artist and play with my two-year old son, Bedirhan.  I also tend to pretend I am doing yard work to please my wife.  If there is any free moment left which generally occurs during bus rides to campus, I love to read history (e.g. Lords of the Horizon: A history of Ottoman Empire  by Jason Goodwin)  and biography books (e.g. ATATURK by Andrew MANGO).