Serdar Bulun is a gynecologist, with a special interest in the common gynecologic diseases,

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease in which Tissue (biology), tissue similar to the endometrium, the lining of the uterus, grows in other places in the body, outside the uterus. It occurs in women and a limited number of other female mammals. Endomet ...

and

uterine fibroids Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyomas, fibromyoma or fibroids, are leiomyoma, benign smooth muscle tumors of the uterus, part of the female reproductive system. Most people with fibroids have no symptoms while others may have dysm ...

.Dyson MT, Roqueiro D, Monsivais D, et al. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis predicts an epigenetic switch for GATA factor expression in endometriosis.''PLoS Genet''.2014;10(3):e1004158.
/ref>

Biography

Bulun was born in

Malatya Malatya (; ; Syriac language, Syriac ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of y ...

, Turkey in 1959 and moved to Istanbul to attend

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

and thereafter

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

School of Medicine (Çapa Tıp Fakültesi). He completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

in New York and pursued a sub-specialty fellowship in reproductive endocrinology-infertility at the

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 23,000 employees, more than 3,000 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient ...

. Starting from 2003, he established a comprehensive women’s health research program at Northwestern, and recruited and supported numerous faculty who focus on steroid hormone-related pathology of uterine, breast and ovarian disorders. Throughout his career, Dr. Bulun has been awarded over $70 million of research funding in

and

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

.Ono M, Yin P, Navarro A, et al. Paracrine activation of WNT/beta-catenin pathway in uterine leiomyoma stem cells promotes tumor growth.''Proc Natl Acad Sci USA''.2013;110:17053-8.
/ref>Bulun SE, Lin Z, Imir G, et al. Regulation of aromatase expression in estrogen-responsive breast and uterine disease: from bench to treatment.''Pharmacol Rev''.2005;57:359-83.
/ref>Shozu M, Sebastian S, Takayama K, et al. Estrogen excess associated with novel gain-of-function mutations affecting the aromatase gene.''N Engl J Med''.2003;348:1855-65.
/ref>Demura M, Martin RM, Shozu M, et al. Regional rearrangements in chromosome 15q21 cause formation of cryptic promoters for the CYP19 (aromatase) gene.''Hum Mol Genet''.2007;16:2529-41.
/ref>Zhou J, Gurates B, Yang S, Sebastian S, Bulun SE. Malignant breast epithelial cells stimulate aromatase expression via promoter II in human adipose fibroblasts: an epithelial-stromal interaction in breast tumors mediated by CCAAT/enhancer binding protein beta.''Cancer Res''.2001;61:2328-34.
/ref>

Academic career

Bulun discovered the epigenetic basis of

leading to progesterone resistance in this disease, and introduced

aromatase inhibitors Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are a class of medication, drugs used in the treatment of breast cancer in menopause, postmenopausal women and in men, and gynecomastia in men. They may also be used off-label to reduce estrogen conversion when suppleme ...

as a novel class of drugs to treat it.Attar E, Bulun SE. Aromatase inhibitors: the next generation of therapeutics for endometriosis?''Fertil Steril''.2006;85:1307-18.
/ref> His team isolated tumor stem cells from

and targeted these to treat this disease. His team discovered the first set of gain-of-function mutations affecting the aromatase gene leading to breast development and estrogen excess in prepubertal humans and contributed to the genetics and systems biology aspects of hormone-responsive disorders of the breast, including cancer. Bulun is the editor-in-chief of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine. He has been elected to the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

(formerly known as the Institute of Medicine), the

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine ...

and the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 p ...

. He served as the 2015 president for th
Society for Reproductive Investigation
He has received the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

-MERIT award for his work in

and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine Distinguished Researcher Award.

Honors

(formerly Institute of Medicine, IOM, elected 2015) * John J. Sciarra Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology,

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

(2012–present) *

(AAP, elected 2012) *

American Society for Reproductive Medicine The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary organization for advancement of the science and practice of reproductive medicine. The society has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and its administrat ...

(ASRM) Distinguished Researcher Award (2012) *

MERIT (R37) Award HD38691 (2010-2020) * George H. Gardner Professor of Clinical Gynecology,

(2006-2012) *

(ASCI, elected 2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulun, Serdar Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American gynecologists Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine