İhsan Doğramacı

Who was İhsan Doğramacı?

Professor İhsan Doğramacı was a Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in Arbil, Iraq, then Ottoman Empire.

Doğramacı was a pediatric physician and an international leader of development. He was the founder of Bilkent University, a leading private university and Hacettepe University, one of the best universities in Turkey which specializes in medical sciences in Ankara, Turkey, chairman of the UNICEF executive board, founding President of the Council of Higher Education of Turkey, executive director and president of International Pediatric Association, co-ratifier of WHO's constitution, and he had been the first President and the Chairman of its Board of Trustees in WHO since 1985.

He was offered national political leadership positions such as ministry of foreign affairs and primiership by Cemal Gürsel and Süleyman Demirel that he declined.

Doğramacı spoke Turkish, English, French, German, Arabic and Persian. He authored over 100 scientific articles, three books, six book chapters and served as the editor of four medical journals.