Assoc. Prof. M.D. Baran Bozkurt

As a 72-year-old retired cartographer, I developed a rare tremor that made my lifelong hobby of miniature shipbuilding impossible. Dr. Bozkurt discovered a tiny vascular malformation near my thalamus that others had missed. His planned embolization was so precise that I was back to placing microscopic rigging on my model clipper ships within six weeks, with steadier hands than I'd had in a decade.

My 8-year-old daughter, a competitive junior gymnast, began experiencing unexplained falls during routines. Dr. Bozkurt diagnosed a congenital spinal cord tether that was tightening with her growth spurts. His minimally invasive detethering surgery preserved all her nerve function. Nine months later, she won her regional championship, and Dr. Bozkurt was the first person she wanted to show her gold medal.

During a high-altitude archaeology expedition in the Andes, I suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage at age 41. Medevaced to Istanbul, I was met by Dr. Bozkurt's emergency team. He performed a life-saving clot evacuation through a novel endoscopic approach. Not only did I survive, but I retained perfect recall of the ancient glyphs I'd been documenting, which later became crucial to our research publication.

My husband, a 55-year-old master violin maker, developed debilitating trigeminal neuralgia that made the delicate touch of his craft agonizing. Multiple treatments failed until Dr. Bozkurt performed a microvascular decompression. The procedure was so successful that he not only returned to crafting instruments but composed a string quartet inspired by the rhythmic precision of neurosurgical techniques.