In Memoriam Nebil Büyükpamukçu (1940 - 2006)

Prof. Nebil Büyükpamukçu, a pioneer of pediatric surgery in Turkey, died on February 28, 2006, at the age of 66, after a prolonged illness.

Nebil Büyükpamukçu

Nebil Büyükpamukçu was born on January 1, 1940 in Diyarbakır, an historical town in the eastern Turkey. He graduated from the Medical Faculty of Ege University in 1964 and chose surgery for his future career. He then joined the general surgery department of Hacettepe University Medical Faculty. After becoming a specialist in general surgery in 1968, he started to work in the department of pediatric surgery, which was to be the main field of interest in his surgical career. Further postgraduate training in pediatric surgery continued in Great Britain between 1971 and 1973, where he had worked with Prof. Lister and Prof. Zachary at the Sheffield Children's Hospital.

After being appointed as Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery in Hacettepe University in 1974, he worked as a consultant pediatric surgeon and clinical lecturer in Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool University, from 1977 to 1978. He was appointed as Professor of Pediatric Surgery in 1979 and once again returned to the “lovely rainy island” to work as a consultant pediatric surgeon with Prof. Johnston at the Royal Children's Hospital in Sheffield for another 2 years.

He became the Head of the Department of Pediatric Surgery of Hacettepe University in 1982 and mainly focused his interest on pediatric surgical oncology and transplantation surgery. His surgical philosophy was “to respect the child as if he or she is yours” and do the best for every patient early and meticulously. He was the main referral name as the last chance for all children who were diagnosed as having inoperable or non-resectable tumors. He was also one of the pioneer pediatric surgeons involved in transplantation surgery. He participated in the first kidney and liver transplantation procedures performed in Turkey and the Middle East.

Prof. Büyükpamukçu was an active member of many national and international professional organizations, such as the Turkish Association of Pediatric Surgeons, the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons, and the Middle East Society of Organ Transplantation. He was also the founder dean of Başkent University Medical Faculty. Prof. Büyükpamukçu and his co-workers published 230 papers in peer-reviewed journals in English in addition to more than 40 international presentations and many book chapters. He was associate editor for European Journal of Pediatric Surgery from 1992 and a valued editorial reviewer for many journals.

Apart from the above-mentioned excellent and bright academic history, he was a wonderful husband and father (Münevver Büyükpamukçu, Professor of Pediatric Oncology, and two children). His deep concern for his family was admirable.

The Turkish Society of Pediatric Surgery has lost an invaluable member, an outstanding figure impossible to replace. We will always remember his happiness and honour upon being awarded with the certificate of hospital accreditation for specialist training of his department by UEMS in Gdansk, 2005. We, who learned “the state of art” from him, are grateful for his thoughts, gentle manner, warm friendship and concern to overcome the difficulties, both in surgery and life.