Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek, MD, PhD (C)

Professor of Neurosurgery – Brain, Spine & Regenerative Medicine

Neurosurgery has always been the passion of Prof. Dr Erdinç Civelek, who was born in Istanbul in 1974 and studied medicine at Hacettepe University, a prestigious medical school.

He wanted to work in the field of neurosurgery, so he completed his specialist training in this very field at the Faculty of Medicine at Istanbul University.

Immediately after completing his training, he went to Phoenix, Arizona, in 2005, where he was an observer under Prof. Spetzler and Prof. Sonntag at the Barrow Neurological Institute / St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.

He completed his military service in Ankara and his compulsory service in Kastamonu.

His later work continued in Istanbul. In 2010, he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Başkent University Istanbul Hospital. Two years later he became Assistant Professor; in 2013, he received the title of Associate Professor. Public records also place him at the University of Health Sciences, Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital, where he held a senior post in neurosurgery.

Neurosurgery has remained the main field of his professional work.

Alongside brain and spine surgery, his work also includes academic activity and research in neurological diseases. In addition, his medical interests extend to regenerative medicine and related scientific fields.

What is noticeable in his background is continuity. The surgical side never disappeared. The academic side never remained decorative. Both developed together. This is usually where a doctor’s profile becomes more substantial: not simply by collecting titles, but by building a body of work that connects operating room practice with scientific discipline. In Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek’s case, that connection is visible throughout his career.

Clinical Practice of Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek

Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek’s clinical field is neurosurgery in the full sense of the term. This includes brain surgery, spine surgery, and the management of complex disorders affecting the central and peripheral nervous system. Patients in this field rarely arrive with simple histories. Some come after trauma. Others have lived with chronic neurological problems for years. Some have already passed through more than one clinic before a clear treatment plan begins to take shape.

That kind of work tends to leave its mark on a physician. It usually leads away from rushed decisions and toward a more measured style of practice. In neurosurgery, this matters. Not every finding needs an operation. Not every technically possible intervention is the right one. Timing, indication, risk, long-term function, and quality of life all matter at least as much as the procedure itself. This is the clinical atmosphere in which Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek’s professional path has developed.

In more recent public-facing professional material, his work is also associated with regenerative medicine and translational treatment concepts. This does not read as a break from neurosurgery, but rather as an extension of it. Although he performs a wide range of brain and spine surgeries, there are cases in which surgery alone may not always lead to the best possible functional recovery. This is one of the reasons why cellular therapies, including stem cell-based approaches, have become part of his broader medical focus.

In this context, stem cell and exosome-based applications may be considered as supportive treatment concepts alongside surgery, with the aim of improving functional recovery in selected patients. Topics such as neurological recovery, exosome-based approaches, and systemic conditions that may affect healing and regeneration, including diabetes, therefore also become relevant. For a surgeon who has spent years dealing with spinal cord injury, neural damage, and limited recovery potential, the scientific interest in regeneration is not difficult to understand. It follows the same medical question from a different angle: what can be repaired, what can be improved, and where are the real limits of treatment?

Scientific Work of Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek

Research has been a consistent part of Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek’s career. Over the years, he has published more than 100 international articles in PubMed-indexed and other scientific journals, as well as more than 80 articles in national journals. He has also contributed to numerous oral and written presentations at scientific meetings. His h-index is 23. These figures point to long-term academic productivity and to a physician who has remained active in publishing, reviewing, and scientific work alongside his clinical practice.

When one looks at his publications, for example in PubMed, one thing becomes immediately clear: this is a professor who is equally at home in both practice and academia, someone who puts science into practice and learns from practice for the benefit of science. He has addressed a variety of topics in his numerous publications, including spinal disorders, trauma, neurosurgery, and regenerative medicine. It suggests a surgeon who has stayed close to both the practical and investigative sides of neurological disease.

He has also been active in editorial work. Public sources associate him with journals such as Turkish Neurosurgery, Cell Behaviour Journal, and the Journal of Academic Research in Medicine (JAREM). In addition, he has served as a reviewer for national and international scientific journals. Editorial roles like these usually say something simple but meaningful: other physicians rely on his judgement not only in clinical matters, but also in evaluating scientific quality.

Academic and Leadership Roles of Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek

Leadership in medicine is often described too loosely. In reality, it usually means responsibility before prestige: responsibility for decisions, for younger colleagues, for department routines, for difficult cases, and for standards that have to be maintained even on ordinary working days.

Throughout his work, whether in clinical practice or in research, Prof. Dr Erdinç Civelek is always conscious of his responsibility towards people. This was also noted by his colleagues at Başkent University Hospital in Istanbul and at the Department of Neurosurgery at the Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital of the University of Health Sciences.

He has never placed any value on appearances or prestige, but has always been more interested in science, people and the patients he wishes to help. Apart from his hospital work, he also had duties in the professional field, including the Proficiency Board of the Turkish Neurosurgical Society and editorial or reviewer work for scientific journals. So his career did not consist only of working in clinics and collecting academic titles.

Another important part of his work has been the clinical use of stem cell therapies in Turkey. It may be noted that, in 2017, the first clinical stem cell application in Turkey was initiated through a Ministry of Health application from Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital. Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek was part of the application and treatment team involved in this process. Since then, stem cell treatment has been carried out for dozens of patients in many different disease groups with official permission from the Ministry, and these applications are still ongoing.

In 2012, he also received several awards from the Turkish Neurosurgical Society. These included recognition related to thesis supervision and the Hamit Ziya Gökalp Young Neurosurgeon awards. Such awards are notable because they reflect appreciation from colleagues within his own specialty.

They are not external branding. They come from within the field itself.

Professional Memberships of Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek

• Turkish Neurosurgical Society
• Turkish Neurosurgical Society Proficiency Board
• Founding Member and President of the Stem Cell Society
• Memberships in various scientific organizations and associations
• Reviewer and editorial contributor for national and international journals

Working with Patients

Patients looking for a neurosurgeon are usually not looking for style. They are looking for clarity. They want to understand what is happening, what can be done, what should not be done, and what a realistic next step looks like. In serious neurological disease, that kind of clarity matters more than polished language.

Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek’s background suggests a medical approach shaped by exactly that reality. His career has moved through major training institutions, demanding hospital settings, academic publishing, and scientific review work. It is the profile of a physician formed by long exposure to difficult neurological cases and by sustained involvement in the scientific questions behind them.

For patients, this means meeting a doctor whose work is rooted in neurosurgery, but not limited to routine surgical thinking. It means being treated by someone who has spent years inside clinical practice while also remaining closely involved in research, academic responsibility, and the wider medical discussion around neurological recovery and regenerative medicine. That combination is what gives Prof. Dr. Erdinç Civelek’s profile its particular weight.