Prof. Dr. Mahmut Kaşkaloğlu

I completed elementary school at Bornova Yavuz Selim Primary School and then entered Izmir College, formerly known as “Izmir Koleji,” in 1963 by achieving the highest score in the entrance exam. In 1967, I won a national knowledge competition organized by Hürriyet newspaper and received a scholarship. In 1968-1969, I studied at Wisconsin, Racine William Horlick High School with an AFS scholarship. I graduated from Izmir College in 1970 and entered Ege University Faculty of Medicine the same year. After graduating from the medical faculty in 1976, I started working as an assistant at Ege University Faculty of Medicine. In 1977, I conducted research on the then-new field of ocular ultrasonography with Professor Till at the University of Vienna Medical School’s Eye Clinic. Upon returning, I continued my research in the same field and published the first articles on ocular biometry in Turkey. After completing my military service in 1980-81, I returned to the same university.

In 1983, I was awarded the British Council scholarship and spent a year working on vitreoretinal diseases with Dr. John Scott at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. In 1984, I participated in Project Orbis in Izmir and performed numerous surgeries. An article I wrote about the glaucoma drainage implant I developed during that period was published in France. I became an associate professor in 1986 and a full professor in 1998. In 1984, I initiated the first intraocular lens implantation surgeries in Izmir. In 1988, I performed the first vitrectomy surgeries in Izmir. In 1994, I started using modern cataract surgery phacoemulsification for the first time in Izmir. In 1990, I published “Ocular Microsurgery Video Atlas,” followed by “Introduction to Phacoemulsification Video Atlas” in 1994. During that time, due to limited transportation, communication, and economic conditions, it was challenging for colleagues to access knowledge, and these video atlases contributed to the advancement of ophthalmology in our country. In 1990, I received training in refractive surgery at the University of Oklahoma’s McGee Eye Institute and in 1992, I established the first laser center in Izmir, initiating laser eye surgeries. I still continue to perform laser surgeries. In 2000, I founded Kaskaloglu Eye Hospital, the first eye hospital in Izmir, and I still work there. Over the past 10 years, our hospital has been successful in health tourism, with patients coming for eye surgeries from various countries, mainly Denmark, Germany, and Greece. I have given presentations as an invited speaker at many congresses in various European countries, the USA, Egypt, Jordan, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, and India. I performed surgeries for educational purposes in Greece, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Slovenia, and Portugal. I organized courses on specialized cataract surgery at the European Cataract and Refractive Surgery Society and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Congresses. In 1998, I organized a congress in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the education of our colleagues after the war and provided training by performing the first modern cataract surgery in Sarajevo. Later, in 2011, I received an award for my contributions to ophthalmology in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the SEEOS congress in Tirana. In 2002, together with Prof. Merab Dvali, I played a leading role in the establishment of the Black Sea Ophthalmological Society (BSOS) and we have been organizing congresses in a different Black Sea country every year since then. I have been the president of BSOS since 2012. In 2004, I was part of the founding committee of the Southeast European Ophthalmological Society (SEEOS) and I continue to represent Turkey as a delegate. I served as the president of SEEOS in 2011-2012. In 2002 and 2006, I participated as an invited speaker in the congresses of the Indian Intraocular Lens Society held in Mumbai and Chennai, and in 2006, I received the “Gold Medal” award in Chennai. In 2008, I received an honorary membership certificate from the Bulgarian Ophthalmological Society at the congress held in Varna. In 2014, I received an award certificate for my contributions to ophthalmology at the SRO-SEEOS congress held in Bucharest. In 2000, I published articles on certain issues observed in intraocular lenses. The presentation on this topic received the “Best Paper” award at the 2001 ASCRS congress in the USA and the video presentation on the same topic received the “Best of the Show” award at the American Academy of Ophthalmology congress in Orlando in 2002. I am a member of the Turkish Ophthalmology Society, the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the Southeast European Ophthalmological Society (SEEOS), and the Black Sea Ophthalmological Society (BSOS).

I am still working at Kaskaloglu Eye Hospital, which I co-founded, along with my wife, Dr. Selma Kaskaloğlu.