Prof. Tomris Ozben of Turkey Elected Next President of the IFCC

Tomris Ozben, representing the Turkish Biochemical Society (TBS), as its next President. In the election, Prof. Ozben received 45 votes (58%) from the 77 member societies that voted, out of a total of 89 member societies. Her term in office starts on January 2023 and is scheduled to end on December 2026. Other candidates in the election were Prof. Michael Neumaier (German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine; DGKL) and Prof. Tahir Pillay (South African Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine; SAACB).

Prof. Ozben, EuSpLM, Ph.D., D.Sc., and Specialist in Clinical Biochemistry, currently serves as President of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM). She has been Chair or a Member in many Federations, Scientific Organizations, Societies, Committees and Councils. She is the Past-IFCC Treasurer, Past-Chair of the IFCC Congress and Conference Committee, Past-President of the Balkan Clinical Laboratory Federation (BCLF), and Board Member of the IFCC Foundation for Emerging Nations (FEN).

Over her tenure at Akdeniz University (Antalya, Turkey), Prof. Ozben has served as Vice Rector, Director of Research Funds, Chair of the Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry, and Founding Director of Central Laboratory at Akdeniz University Hospital. She worked for more than 10 years in the Ethical Committee of Akdeniz University Hospital and Medical Faculty on themes concerning drug research in clinical trials. She served as Commission Member of the Turkish Ministry of Health for restructuring Medical Education and Teaching, as well as Member-Elect of the Turkish High Educational Council for four years.

Prof. Ozben’s own research interests include identification of early markers for diagnosis and prognosis of cancer, cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases, diabetes, liquid biopsy, proteomics, oxidative stress and antioxidants in health and disease, impact of apoptosis in cancer therapy, multidrug resistance, nanoparticles, therapeutic drug monitoring, development and validation of new tests, analytical techniques, quality control and management, teaching, mentoring, research, and laboratory management.

Prof. Ozben serves as mentor to numerous graduate students and takes part at Post-Graduate Education Programs (Specialty and PhD) at Akdeniz University, PhD program “Clinical Experimental Medicine” at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and External Examiner for Post-graduate education at University of Zimbabwe. She has received several awards including Akdeniz University “Outstanding Service” and “Science” awards, AACC Van Slyke Society and AACC TDM/Toxicology Division and AACC’s National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB) awards.

Prof. Ozben is on the Editorial Board of several scientific journals, and a reviewer for several journals, and scientific projects evaluator for the Italian Ministry for University Education and Research (MIUR; CINECA), Ministry of Science and Environmental Protection of Republic of Serbia, Israel Science Foundation, and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). She has taken part in the organization of several WorldLabs, EuroMedLabs, IFCC General Conference, and FEBS-IUBMB Advanced Courses, Workshops and Young Scientists FORUMs. She has published over 250 manuscripts; several book chapters; edited books published by international publishers, and attended as an invited speaker to more than 300 international conferences.

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