YUTBAT Community

2024 - 2025 Events

**Click for the details of the interview.

In this special interview, we had the honor of speaking with Associate Professor Dr. Ferudun Çelikmen, Founding President of AKUT and faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine. Our discussion focused on the challenges of delivering healthcare in disaster settings and the realities of medical practice in the field. We hope you find it insightful.

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Social Responsibility Projects
 

Darulaceze

YÜTBAT - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY VISIT TO DARÜLACEZE

This year, we didn’t want to let March 8, International Women’s Day, pass by as just another celebration.
As the Social Responsibility Team of the Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine Scientific Research Community (YÜTBAT), we wanted to spend this meaningful day with women who are at different stages of life—by their side, in their presence.

With this purpose in mind, we paid a visit to Darülaceze.
This visit wasn’t just a social responsibility event—it became a meeting full of priceless memories for all of us.
Each woman we met carried a life story stretching from the past to the present.

Some had once been teachers, others had raised their children on their own, and some had lived a lifetime in quiet patience.

We came to them with flowers, but what we received in return was so much more: life lessons, heartwarming memories, and smiles mingled with tears.

The small bouquets we offered were actually silent messages saying, "You are not forgotten." The hopeful glances in their eyes, the tight grip of their hands, and the stories they told without pause...

All reminded us how precious human connection truly is.
From this visit, we understood once again: it’s not aging that wears a person down—it’s being forgotten and left alone.
Our visit wasn’t limited to just the women, either.

That same day, we also spent time with the men staying at the facility.

We talked, we listened, and we shared moments with them too.

Sometimes, listening isn’t enough—we also realized how deeply meaningful it is for someone to feel heard, to feel seen.

A voice breaking the silence, a memory shared, a hand gently resting on your shoulder...
With this project, we once again saw that real change doesn’t begin with grand gestures—but with heartfelt, small touches.

Holding someone’s hand, sharing a cup of tea, or simply listening for a few minutes can leave a deeper impact than we ever imagine.

Through this visit, we were reminded of empathy, solidarity, and the compassion that lies at the heart of being human.
Maybe we didn’t change the world that day—but if we changed someone’s day, then for us, that was more than enough.

Burgazada

YÜTBAT – SAİT FAİK ABASIYANIK PRIMARY SCHOOL PROJECT IN BURGAZADA

This time, as the YÜTBAT Social Responsibility Team, we hopped on a ferry and set sail for Burgazada, heading to Sait Faik Abasıyanık Primary School.
At the end of a quiet street, far from the crowds of Istanbul, we were greeted by a small school. From the outside, it was a simple, modest building—but once inside, it wrapped us in a warm world full of love.
All students, from first to fourth grade, study together in a single classroom. The physical conditions are quite limited, but the smiles on the children’s faces have become the strongest foundation holding the school together. We wanted to contribute to this warm atmosphere in the best way we could.
We started with the schoolyard. The basketball hoops were worn out and faded—and we know how important color is in a child’s world. So, we painted around the hoops and then, together with the children, dipped our hands in paint and left colorful handprints nearby. Each print was like a smile. For a moment, we became children again—with paint-covered hands and joyful laughter.
The walls of the theatre room felt like blank canvases. With colors, shapes, and joy, we turned them into windows opening into imagination. One side bloomed with flowers; the other filled with animals and storybook characters. As we painted, the kids sat beside us and said, “Can you draw this too?” We saw the worlds they imagined in their eyes—and became a part of those worlds.
Another group of volunteers brought out the school’s overflowing joy. They played games, ran around, laughed together. The “playing doctor” game was more popular than we had expected. As those tiny hands reached for stethoscopes, we couldn’t help but wonder—maybe one day, one of them will truly become a doctor, touching the heart of another child.
The chess activity completely surprised us. Some children played so skillfully that by the time we were thinking about our next move, they had already planned theirs. Their focus, patience, and sharp thinking... On that board, they seemed to carry a world much bigger than their age.
Their reaction to the books we brought was indescribable. In the way they reached out, there was a hunger—for knowledge, for stories, for dreams. We saw eyes light up as they flipped through pages. We were reminded that reading is still a door to wonder. A single word between the pages might be enough to change the direction of a child’s life.
At the end of the day, we all had a picnic together. They shared the food they brought from home with us, and we gave them little surprises in return. We let our kites fly into the sky, and our laughter echoed through the stillness of the island. Then it was time to say goodbye. “Please stay a little longer,” they said. Small arms that didn’t want to let us go. Silent goodbyes, eye to eye, full of meaning.
And in that moment, we understood—touching a child’s life doesn’t require grand gestures. Sometimes all it takes is a paintbrush, a book, a smile, or a game. When love, sharing, and imagination come together, real change becomes possible.
Maybe we physically left that place—but a part of us remained. In the handprints on the walls, in the schoolyard, in the laughter from the picnic, in the pages of the books...
And if we were able to leave even a small spark of hope, a smile, or a dream in a child’s heart— then that means we truly achieved something.

Sakarya

From Future Doctors to the Next Generation: A Meeting of Hope and Hygiene at Soğuksu Primary School
As the Scientific Research Community of Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine, we believe that medical education should go beyond the classroom.
With every step we take on this journey, we’re reminded that being a good doctor is not just about treating—it’s about feeling, understanding, and reaching out.
With this belief, we set off and this time, our path led us to Soğuksu Primary School, a small and humble school in a village in Sakarya.
With support from volunteer dentistry students, we carried out a multi-faceted social responsibility project, keeping in mind that medicine is not just a clinical science, but also an art of forming human connections.
Before we set out, we spent a long time planning, seeking support, and gathering donations.
Every donation felt like a brick contributing to the smile of a child. And with those bricks, we built something new in an unused corner of the school: a library.
The once-empty room was no longer just walls and mortar—it was now filled with hope and imagination.
We carefully placed children's books on the shelves, and with every book, we thought: Whose little hands will flip through these pages?
Maybe they’ll chase a dream sparked by a story, maybe they’ll discover a future career in a science book.
Because we believe books are not just sources of knowledge—they are magical doors into a child’s inner world.
But our project didn’t end there.
We wanted to reach not just minds, but bodies as well—because health begins not just with treatment, but with prevention.
We provided hygiene education to both primary and middle school students.
We didn’t just explain why handwashing matters—we washed our hands together with soap to show them.
We demonstrated how to brush teeth properly. And as they held their toothbrushes with care, the look in their eyes reminded us of something very clearly:
When children are given the right knowledge, they internalize it better than we ever could.
Throughout the day, we witnessed the power of spending time together, beyond just education. We played volleyball and football, laughed together over board games.
What they loved most was playing "doctor."
When the children picked up stethoscopes, we all paused for a moment.
Maybe one of them really will become a doctor someday.
Who knows—perhaps that simple game planted the very first seed of a dream.
With this project, we saw once again that healthcare doesn’t only happen in hospitals or clinics.
True health begins within everyday life.
It starts while playing, while giving a child a book, while showing them how to wash their hands with soap.
Wherever hearts connect and eyes shine with shared hope—there, health exists.
During our visit, the words of our Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk echoed in our minds:
"Entrust me to the Turkish doctors."
To us, these words are not only a great honor, but also a deep responsibility.

Being a doctor is not just about writing prescriptions, performing surgeries, or preparing treatment plans.
Being a doctor is also about smiling, listening, and showing empathy.
With every child we touched that day, we embraced these values even more.
This small but deeply meaningful step at Soğuksu Primary School didn’t just make us better future doctors—it made us more compassionate, more aware, and more hopeful human beings.
This day became a turning point in our journey through medicine.
And now we know:
To become the doctors of the future, we must first learn to reach the hearts of others.
 

2022 - 2023 Events

Research Project Preparation Workshop for Undergraduate Students (11.03.2023)

2018 - 2019 Events

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2016 - 2017 Events

• Katıldığımız Etkinlikler
• Sınır Tanımayan Doktorma
• Sunum Günleri - Sunum Eğitimi 1

Temel Bilimden Kliniğe Otofaji

Temel Bilimden Kliniğe Otofaji" konulu seminerimizi değerli hocamız Doç.Dr.Devrim Gözüaçık'ın sunumuyla gerçekleştirdik. Bu bilgilendirici ve değerli sunumu için hocamıza çok teşekkür ederiz. Katılımcı arkadaşlarımıza ve hocalarımıza da katılımları için çok teşekkür ederiz, diğer etkinliklerimizde tekrar buluşmak üzere.. takipte kalın! 

Şubat 2016

GÜTBAT- İlke Esin AYDINER

GÜTBAT- Umay DİLEK