Prof. Benan Bayrakci

Professor Benan Bayrakci is regarded as one of the pioneering figures in the development of pediatric intensive care medicine and extracorporeal support systems in Türkiye. Through sustained academic leadership, institutional development, translational innovation, and multidisciplinary collaboration, he has contributed substantially to the modernization of pediatric critical care practice, education, and research at both national and international levels. Professor Bayrakci has contributed extensively to the scientific literature through high-impact publications, international collaborations, multicenter studies, book chapters, and invited scientific lectures.

He graduated from TED Ankara College and Ankara Atatürk Anatolian High School. He received his medical degree from Ankara University Faculty of Medicine in 1995. Between 1995 and 2000, he completed his residency training in Pediatrics at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, where he also served as Chief Resident between 1999 and 2000. Between 2000 and 2001, he worked as the attending physician in charge of the Pediatric Emergency Department at İhsan Doğramacı Children’s Hospital.

Entrusted with the establishment and development of a pediatric intensive care program, he pursued advanced clinical training and research at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA) between 2001 and 2002, focusing on intensive care medicine and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). In November 2002, he served as a clinical observer at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV, USA).

In December 2002, he returned Hacettepe University as the attending physician responsible for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He was appointed as Lecturer in 2004 and Assistant Professor in 2005, during which time he also assumed the role of Head of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He was appointed Associate Professor of Pediatrics in 2010 and promoted to Professor in 2015.

He initiated several pioneering programs, including home mechanical ventilation (2003), continuous renal replacement therapy (CVVHDF) (2004), Pediatric Basic and Advanced Life Support (PBALS) training (2006), and the first Extracorporeal Life Support (ECMO) program in Türkiye (2007). In the same year, he organized an internationally attended Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Congress at Hacettepe University and conducted the AHA–AAP Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course.

In 2009, as a member of the Medical Specialty Board Curriculum Development System (TUKMOS), he contributed to the establishment of Pediatric Intensive Care as a recognized subspecialty in Türkiye.

In 2011, he led the restructuring of the Pediatric Intensive Care Division at Hacettepe University, which subsequently produced Türkiye’s first formally trained Pediatric Intensive Care specialist. In the same year, he initiated the “PAYlaşım” meetings, a national platform bringing together pediatric emergency and intensive care specialists on a monthly basis.

Between 2011 and 2016, he served as Physician-in-Chief and Director of İhsan Doğramacı Children’s Hospital. In 2013, he established a modern, 16-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. From 2013 to 2019, he directed a pioneering Pediatric Intensive Care subspecialty training program in affiliation with Ankara Pediatric Hematology Oncology Training and Research Hospital. In 2014, he contributed to the scientific organization of the 7th World Congress on Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care held in Türkiye.

In 2015, he founded the Hacettepe University Life Support Application and Research Center (LSC), under which he launched the “PAY School,” a multicenter, collaborative educational initiative.

He played a founding role in the establishment of the Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Association (2000) and the Pediatric Intensive Care Association (2009). Together with a scientific committee, he contributed to the development of Türkiye’s certified Pediatric Intensive Care Nursing Training Program.

He serves as an editor and reviewer for various scientific journals and is a member of the Intensive Care Subspecialty Training and Accreditation Board, the Ministry of Health Emergency Health Services Scientific Advisory Board, and the Medical Specialty Board.

He currently serves as Head of the Pediatric Intensive Care Department at Hacettepe University and as a senior consultant physician in both the PICU and pCICU units.

Since 2024, he has served as the founding president of the Life Support Trust Foundation.