Mutlu Arat, MD

Dr. Arat received his MD in 1991 from the Hacettepe University Medical School and then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Ankara University Department of Medicine.  He was a visiting scholar in Vienna at Donauspital and AKH of University of Vienna where he worked in  transplant units and cytogenetic labs.

Dr. Arat completed the fellowship program for Hematology and Transplantation at Ankara University Medical School (http://www.ankara.edu.tr/english/) in 2000. Since 2004 he has been a faculty member and Associate Professor of Medicine at the same Department.

The history of transplantation in Turkey starts in the mid 1980’s.  Dr. Arat’s center has been active since 1988,  pioneering many transplant procedures and applications in Turkey like the first peripheral blood auto/allo stem cell transplant, first reduced intensity stem cell transplant (SCT) and first allogeneic cord blood SCT.  In the last 20 years more than 1000 patients, both allogeneic and autologous, have received transplants at the center.  In 2005 the center was transferred to a new location with 21 beds.  At this extended unit more than 150 patients a year (allo and auto in nearly equal numbers) receive transplants.

In 2007 Dr. Arat was elected as the coordinator of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Center.  The Center’s primary goal is to get full JACIE accreditation in 3 years and extend experience in alternative donors like MUDs, cord bloods and haplo-identical transplants. Dr. Arat’s senior professor, Dr. M. Ozcan, visited the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation several times in mid 1990s.  This was the beginning of a collaborative bridge between Turkey (Ankara) and the University of Minnesota. Dr. A. Ugur Bilgin, who works with Dr. Arat’s group as a consultant, hematologist and a transplant physician for the HSCT Unit is also on the Visitor’s page of the HOT website. Not only hematologists but surgeons and nephrologists from Ankara University have visited the University of Minnesota in recent years. Turkish transplant physicians and hematologists are familiar with UMN activities  and many faculty members of the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation have visited Turkey as invited speakers (among them John Kersey, Harry Jacob, Nigel Key, Philip McGlave, Catherine Verfaillie, and Daniel Weisdorf).

Since 1997 Dr. Arat has worked as an attending physician at the HSCT Unit and as a consultant in the Apheresis Unit as well. Turkey lacks a well established National Cord Blood and Donor Registry, which severely hampers HSCT activity with alternative donors.  One of Dr. Arat’s major aims is to learn the organizational structure between HSCT Centers and Donor and Cord Blood Registries.  His experiences at the University of Minnesota will be of outmost help in renovating programs both in Ankara and Turkey. Dr. Arat is planning to visit the National Marrow Donor Program while in Minneapolis since his unit will be accepted as an NMDP Center in the near future.

Dr. Arat also wants to complete at least one project and prepare his findings for publication during his stay. His family is also with him as a support group. His wife, a cardiologist, will work as an observer in the Cardiovascular Division. He hopes that his children (two girls, ages 4 and 6) will enjoy their stay and profit by learning some words in English as well.