M.D. Belgin Utku

As a 78-year-old retired glassblower, I'd accepted my persistent wheezing as an occupational hazard. Dr. Utku didn't just listen to my lungs—she asked about the specific silica compounds I'd worked with fifty years prior. Her targeted treatment for pneumoconiosis, combined with breathing exercises adapted for my arthritic hands, gave me back the ability to walk my granddaughter to school without stopping every block.

My 14-year-old daughter, a competitive freediver, suddenly developed terrifying breath-holding spells after a sinus infection. Multiple doctors dismissed it as anxiety. Dr. Utku connected it to a rare form of sinus-bronchial reflex and designed a gradual reconditioning program using spirometry games. Now she's back in the pool, breaking personal records with safer breathing techniques.

During Istanbul's unprecedented pollen storm, my husband—a 42-year-old architect with no prior allergies—went into respiratory distress on a construction site. Dr. Utku's clinic stayed open late, diagnosing a sudden-onset allergic asthma triggered by a rare imported building material. Her environmental investigation prevented similar cases across three other sites.

As a 31-year-old professional oud player, I was losing my breath capacity mid-performance. Dr. Utku, understanding the diaphragmatic demands of wind instrument players, diagnosed exercise-induced vocal cord dysfunction masquerading as asthma. Her collaboration with a speech therapist specializing in musicians saved my career.