Prof. Dr. Ömer Aydın Karamehmetoğlu
Professor Karamehmetoğlu was born in İstanbul in 1926. After completing his primary and secondary education at Galatasaray High School, he started his higher education in the Faculty of Medicine at İstanbul University. He assumed the title of Medical Doctor on August 31, 1954. He continued his specialty education in internal medicine and cardiology in the United States of America and Canada. After completing his cardiology education at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital in Ohio, he studied electrocardiography, vectorcardiography and phonocardiography at Institute de Cardiologie de Montreal in Canada for two years and then worked as a resident in the cardiology unit.
Afterwards, he came back to Turkey and began to work as a specialist on August 30th, 1965 in the Internal Medicine Unit of Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Medicine, which was then being established. He was also part of the staff that led the establishment of the Cardiology Unit. He worked for education commissions and period coordination offices for a long time in these establishment years and made great contributions to the development of the educational approach particular to Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Medicine. He was appointed as an instructor in 1968 and was promoted to the position of assistant professor on December 6, 1969 when he was appointed Head of the Internal Medicine Department. He assumed the title of associate professor in 1972 and of professor in 1977. Between 1972 and 1990, he served as the Head of the Cardiology Unit.
Professor Ömer Aydın Karamehmetoğlu was one of the founders of the Cardiology Unit. It became a leading medical center that broke new ground in cardiology in Turkey together with the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, which was founded in the same period of time. Professor Karamehmetoğlu was a teacher who left an impression on his students, assistants and specialists. He ensured a systematic education, ensuring that the electrocardiogram, which was one of the most important diagnostic tools of the period, was learned by all the interns and assistants at an acceptable level of competence. Moreover, he led one of Turkey’s first modern coronary intensive care units established at Hacettepe University and caused numerous students, assistants and nurses to receive a contemporary education in this field. Professor Karamehmetoğlu retired from Hacettepe University on October 29, 1993. He continued working as a doctor for a while. He passed away on December 15, 2016.
Professor Ömer Aydın Karamehmetoğlu had a warm personality that instantly affected the community he was involved due to being highly cultured, having practical intelligence, being skilled at repartee and witty. He left an impression on people as a great teacher who impresses his community, leads them to innovations and encourages them with his open-minded leadership, enabling him to think and decide quickly and to find solutions instantly. We regard his memory with deep respect.