Prof. M.D. Özlem Sönmez

I brought my 4-year-old son, Leo, to Dr. Sönmez after three different pediatricians couldn't explain his persistent low-grade fever and fatigue. While others dismissed it as 'just a virus,' Dr. Sönmez spent an hour examining him, asking about our recent family trip to the Black Sea coast. She connected his symptoms to a tick bite we hadn't even noticed! Her gentle manner kept Leo calm during blood tests that confirmed early-stage Lyme disease. She coordinated with a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Acibadem Maslak, and now Leo is fully recovered. She didn't just treat a child; she treated our entire family's anxiety.

As a 78-year-old with diabetes, hypertension, and now unexplained weight loss, I felt like a collection of charts to most doctors. Dr. Özlem Sönmez changed that. During my routine checkup, she noticed a slight tremor in my hand that others had missed for years. Instead of adding another pill, she paused my complex medication list, suspecting an interaction was causing the weight loss and new tremor. She methodically unprescribed, one drug at a time, over two weeks of daily follow-up calls from her nurse. The tremor vanished, and I started gaining weight. She manages my five conditions not as separate problems, but as one whole person. Her approach is a rare art in modern medicine.

My story isn't about a long-term illness, but a terrifying Saturday. I developed sudden, crushing chest pain and was rushed to Acibadem Maslak's ER. Dr. Sönmez was the internal medicine specialist on call. While the ER team ruled out a heart attack, she was the one who asked about the 'insignificant' fall I'd had gardening two days prior. She ordered a specific CT scan others thought unnecessary, which revealed a dissecting aortic aneurysm—a silent time bomb. Her swift decision and direct coordination with the vascular surgery team saved my life that night. She visited me in the ICU every morning, explaining each step in plain Turkish. I owe her my life for seeing what wasn't obvious.

I'm a 42-year-old software engineer who went to Dr. Sönmez for what I thought was a simple follow-up for acid reflux. I mentioned in passing that I'd been feeling 'off'—mild headaches and occasional dizziness when coding for long hours. Instead of refilling my prescription and sending me off, she conducted a neurological exam right there. She discovered a subtle visual field defect I had unconsciously adapted to. This led to an MRI that detected a benign pituitary tumor. The sequence of events—from a routine visit to brain surgery consultation—was handled with such seamless, calm efficiency. She navigates the complex machinery of the human body and the hospital system with equal mastery. My 'routine' visit was anything but.