Academic profile

Academic position

Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery (Doçent), Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. The Doçent rank in the Turkish academic system requires completion of specialty training, a minimum number of peer-reviewed publications in indexed journals, examination on the academic body of the field, and committee evaluation. The rank is comparable to the UK Senior Lecturer / Reader, USA Associate Professor, or German Privatdozent.

Publication focus areas

Peer-reviewed publication record across rhinoplasty, body contouring, breast surgery, microsurgery, and reconstructive cases. Specific topic clusters:

• Rhinoplasty technique — closed-approach methodology, dorsal preservation principles, structural grafting in thick-skinned patients, post-traumatic reconstruction.
• Body contouring — perforator-preserving lipoabdominoplasty, drainless protocols, post-bariatric staged pathway.
• Breast surgery — augmentation-mastopexy planning, implant selection, revision approaches.
• Microsurgery and reconstruction — complex defect reconstruction following oncologic resection or trauma.
• Aesthetic outcome measurement — patient-reported outcome measures, photography standardisation.

Conference presentations

ISAPS World Congress 2023 — Gold Award

Clinical research presentation receiving the highest tier of recognition at the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's biennial congress.

ISAPS World Congress 2023 — Bronze Award

Second clinical presentation receiving recognition at the same congress.

ACS Clinical Congress 2025 — FACS Induction

Inducted as Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Regular conference participation

• ISAPS World Congress — biennial, clinical presentations.
• EBOPRAS meetings — European-level specialty congresses.
• TPRECD National Congress — Turkish national plastic surgery society annual meeting.
• Specialty subgroup meetings — rhinoplasty, body contouring, breast surgery focus events.

Teaching and training

Plastic surgery residency training

Active role in plastic surgery residency training at Gazi University, including clinical case supervision, surgical skill training, journal club, and academic evaluation.

Visiting fellow exchanges

Participation in international visiting fellow programmes — both as visiting fellow at international institutions and host for international fellows visiting the practice.

Continuing medical education

Faculty role in continuing medical education courses for plastic surgeons, particularly in rhinoplasty technique workshops and live surgery demonstrations.

Research collaboration

Active collaboration with academic plastic surgery departments internationally — particularly through the international training networks established during fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Ghent University Hospital. Multi-author publication output reflects this collaborative research engagement.

Independent verification

• PubMed publication search: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — search "Erdal AI" for the publication record.
• YÖK Akademik: akademik.yok.gov.tr — Turkish national academic registry confirms academic rank and institution.
• ISAPS member directory: isaps.org — confirms active society membership.
• FACS Fellow lookup: facs.org — confirms American College of Surgeons fellowship.
• EBOPRAS directory: ebopras.eu — confirms European Board fellowship.