Recep Akdağ (born 8 May 1960) is a Turkish physician and politician who is a member of the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

. He was one of the last

Deputy Prime Ministers of Turkey Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

from 19 July 2017 from 9 July 2018, and served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

from 2016 to 2017, and from 2002 to 2013.

Life and career

Akdağ was born on 8 May 1960 in

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

, the son of Yahya Akdağ and his wife Zekiye. He completed his primary and secondary education in Erzurum, and his high school education in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

at Atatürk High School. He graduated from Faculty of Medicine at

Atatürk University Atatürk University () is a public land-grant research university established in 1957 in Erzurum, Turkey, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska. The university comprises 23 faculties, 18 colleges, 8 institutes, and 30 research cente ...

in 1984, becoming a medical doctor and going on to an academic career in the field of medicine. He performed his obligatory service as a practitioner in

Karabük Karabük is a city in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Karabük Province and Karabük District.molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

techniques and especially on

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample rapidly, allowing scientists to amplify a very small sample of DNA (or a part of it) sufficiently to enable detailed st ...

(PCR) at King's College London School of Medicine in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He completed his studies in November 1992, and returned to Turkey. He initiated the studies of "Diagnosis of Tuberculosis with PCR through making contributions to the establishment of the first Molecular DNA laboratory in the

Eastern Anatolia Region The Eastern Anatolia region () is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in th ...

through a research project" in line with these studies. In 1992, he became an assistant professor in the Child Health and Diseases Main Branch of the Medical Faculty of Atatürk University. Akdağ received the title of associate professor in 1994, and the title of professor in 1999. He completed the "Gene Therapy" course successfully held at the

Karolinska Institutet The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally. ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1998. Between 1994 and 1998, he worked as Deputy Chief Doctor, Procurement Commission Head and Deputy Editor of the Medical Bulletin in the Research Hospital of the Medical Faculty of Atatürk University. He was the Deputy Head of the Atatürk University's Biotechnological Implementation and Research Center between 1997 and 2000, a member of the Medical Faculty of Atatürk University-

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

Cooperation Committee between 1998 and 2000, a member of the Transfusion Committee between 1998 and 2002, a member of the Commission of Pharmaceuticals, a member of the Ethical Committee and head of the Pharmaceuticals Research Committee. He is a founding member and board member of the Erzurum Branch of the National Pediatrics Association, a member of the Turkish Pediatric Hematology Association and a member of the Turkish Hematology Association. He has about 100 scientific articles and announcements. About 20 of these are of international character. The number of attributions included in

Citation Index A citation index is a kind of bibliographic index, an index of citations between publications, allowing the user to easily establish which later documents cite which earlier documents. A form of citation index is first found in 12th-century H ...

is 16. He gave speeches and took part as chairman in various meetings and symposia. He won the Prize of the Article of the Year from the Chamber of Doctors of İstanbul in 1996. Recep Akdağ worked as a lecturer in pediatrics and deputy chief physician of Atatürk University's Research Hospital before being elected to parliament representing Erzurum on 3 November 2002. On 18 November 2002, Akdağ was appointed Minister of Health. As well as the day-to-day running of the public health system, he has had to deal with a number of issues including: * major reforms of the public health system to cut bureaucracy and increase efficiency, for example allowing public health patients to be treated privately at the state's expense, thus relieving the strain on state hospitals. * bringing the cost of pharmaceuticals in Turkey down to EU norms * the

bird flu "Bird Flu" is an urumee melam-dance song by recording artist M.I.A. on her second studio album '' Kala'' (2007). It was released as a digital download in 2006 through XL Recordings under exclusive license to Interscope Records in the US. Cri ...

scare of 2006 * calls for a government initiative on

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

and

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

to bring average family size down to EU norms. This plan has been shelved, and as the minister has six children himself perhaps this is not surprising. On 24 January 2013, he was replaced by

Mehmet Müezzinoğlu Mehmet Müezzinoğlu (born January 9, 1955) is a Turkish physician and politician, who served as the Minister of Labour and Social Security between 2016 and 2017, and the Minister of Health from 2013 to 2016. Early years He was born on January ...

at his post in the cabinet.

Personal life

Akdağ is married, has six children and speaks English.Turkish Grand National Assembly bio (Turkish)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akdag, Recep 1960 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Deputies of Erzurum People from Erzurum Atatürk University alumni Academic staff of Atatürk University Turkish pediatricians Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Ministers of health of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 65th government of Turkey Members of the 60th government of Turkey Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz