Orhan Bukulmez, MD

Bruce R. Carr, MD

Dr. Orhan Bukulmez is currently an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) and the division director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. Dr. Bukulmez has put together this issue of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, which also reflected his uniquely diverse academic background. Dr. Bukulmez was graduated from the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey as the valedictorian of his class. Ranking first in the Turkish Residency Entering Exams, he was granted an OBGYN residency position at the Hacettepe University program. After finishing his residency, he spent some time at Yale University as a research fellow in REI which was followed by an internship in OBGYN at Yale-New Haven Hospital program. Dr. Bukulmez had to make a decision to return back to Hacettepe University as a faculty member and then he quickly rose through the ranks as an instructor, assistant professor, and finally as an associate professor with tenure. He was focused on REI, especially on the in vitro fertilization (IVF) practice during his time in Turkey while attending various training programs and meetings in the field in Europe and United States. After reaching tenure, although he was a very successful faculty member in Hacettepe University, Dr. Bukulmez decided to embark on a carrier in the United States, by completing his United States OBGYN residency at Southern Illinois University and University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Then I got acquainted with him when we recruited him to our REI fellowship program at UT Southwestern. He proved to be a very energetic, hardworking, experienced, knowledgeable, and mature fellow leaving a great influence in our division. He was involved in various clinical and basic science researches, published strong articles, and proved himself to be a superior clinician and surgeon. Upon his graduation from the 3-year fellowship, he moved to Gainesville, FL to become an assistant professor of OBGYN and shortly after he rose in the ranks, first becoming the director of egg donation program and then the medical director of the IVF program and finally, he assumed the title of REI division director at the University of Florida College of Medicine. We were fortunate to recruit him back to UT Southwestern as our division director. Dr. Bukulmez has been heavily focusing on re-establishing an academic clinical assisted reproductive technologies program while also working hard to energize research and to enhance the REI fellowship program collaborating closely with me. Dr. Bukulmez carefully selected some common topics that any REI or fertility professional may face during daily practice and critically analyzed these common clinical applications by inviting distinguished team of faculty who indeed put very interesting and informative review articles together. I enjoyed reading them and I hope our readers can also find this issue beneficial for their everyday clinical practice.