About Hasan Ersöz
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Ersöz | Thoracic (Chest) Surgeon
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Ersöz was born in 1985 in Diyarbakır, the child of a surgeon father and a mother who taught English. His father, Dr. Ekrem Ersöz, was a urologist who served for many years as chief physician of Diyarbakır State Hospital. Hasan Ersöz grew up looking up to his father and wanted to become a surgeon from childhood; years later, an illness in his family would also shape his choice of specialty.
He completed primary and middle school in Diyarbakır and spent his high school years at Çanakkale Science High School, in his mother’s hometown. For family reasons he then returned to Diyarbakır and began his studies at Dicle University Faculty of Medicine. In the final year of medical school he faced his father’s lung illness. Preparing to become a physician while also living through the waiting, worry and search for answers of a patient’s relative, this period influenced his turn toward thoracic surgery.
When he came to Dokuz Eylül University for his specialty training, İzmir became a lasting part of his life. While learning thoracic surgery there, he saw more closely what the uncertainty before an operation can make patients and their families feel. Talking about what the patient knows about the surgery, what they are curious about and what they fear became part of his consultations.
After completing his specialty he worked at Tepecik Training and Research Hospital. Following a brief assignment at Manisa State Hospital, in 2016 he began work at İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University as a founding faculty member and Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery. Ahead of him lay the responsibility of building a clinic that did not yet have its own structure or team.
When he started, the clinic did not even have a pair of surgical scissors. He went through days without a secretary to handle the necessary correspondence, with patients followed in other wards. He performed operations and taught medical students while also working to meet the clinic’s needs. Over time the department became a clinic with its own ward and team, providing thoracic surgery specialty training. He served as head of the department for six and a half years.
During these years, alongside lung surgery, he became more deeply involved with chest wall deformities. As he listened to patients with pectus excavatum, pectus carinatum and other differences in chest shape, he also considered what the deformity seen on examination means in daily life. For some people it was difficulty breathing or moving, for others discomfort when choosing clothes, and for others hesitation about changing in front of other people. When discussing treatment, he made room for these feelings as well.
To continue his professional training, in 2019 he spent time in Shanghai, China, with Dr. Diego González Rivas, who works in the field of uniportal (closed) lung surgery. He brought the experience he gained back to his work in İzmir. In 2020 he received the title of associate professor. That same year, at an international symposium he organized on chest wall deformities, he brought together colleagues from Turkey and other countries for live surgery and scientific discussion.
In October 2022 he opened his own private practice. In leaving the university clinic to which he had given so many years, he wanted to continue practicing medicine in a working arrangement that allowed closer communication with his patients. He also continued his scientific work and his international professional relationships. Alongside his surgical work on diseases of the lung, pleura and mediastinum, chest wall and rib problems increasingly became areas to which he devoted more of his time.
He created the Dr. Pectus brand in 2022 and the Dr. Curver brand in 2024, and developed his work on chest wall deformities and rib contouring under these brands. In consultations at his practice he made time to listen to his patients’ expectations. People can sometimes hesitate even when describing something that has bothered them for years. For this reason, he aims to let patients talk about their feelings regarding their own bodies without being judged, and to make decisions with a clear understanding of their options.
The Ribella Procedure, which he developed in 2024, became part of his work on rib contouring and rib flare. While working on this ultrasound-guided approach, he focused on individualized three-dimensional assessment and postoperative follow-up. He began to evaluate his findings with regular measurements and to share them with colleagues.
His interest in patient-specific planning in chest wall surgery was also reflected in his work on three-dimensional surgical guides. His study on a 3D-printed guide, developed for use in pectus arcuatum surgery, prepared according to the patient’s anatomy and intended to limit the depth of bone cutting, was published in 2026 in the Journal of Chest Wall Surgery.
Slipping rib syndrome has also been among his current areas of work. He took into account the fatigue and hesitation of a patient who, after long-lasting pain without a clear cause, comes for yet another examination. In this area he worked on a costal margin reconstruction approach that uses the patient’s own cartilage, and he continues his work so that his clinical experience can be shared scientifically.
In July 2026, at the ICWSO meeting held in Guangzhou, China, he presented his early clinical experience with the Ribella Procedure to international colleagues. In the surgical training program held before the congress, he performed the method outside Turkey for the first time. In the same program he worked with Prof. Wenlin Wang and his team, gained experience in different chest wall surgery techniques and received the Best Trainee Award.
In addition to his role on the Scientific Committee of the Chest Wall International Group (CWIG), in 2026 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Chest Wall Surgery Organization, ICWSO for short. He is currently preparing, as congress president, the 3rd Global Chest Wall Surgery Congress, to be held in İstanbul on 23–25 June 2027. He is getting ready to host in Turkey the colleagues with whom he has worked in different countries.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Ersöz tries to understand what a person coming for consultation has been through, what they want to change and what they expect from treatment. He explains clearly what the method he recommends can offer and what its limits are. He knows that a patient may need time to think, to talk with family or to ask questions again before deciding. For him, it is an important part of the treatment process that the patient leaves the consultation having been able to ask the questions on their mind.
Married and the father of two children, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Ersöz continues his profession in İzmir. Years ago, during his father’s illness, he came to know what it is like to be a patient’s relative, and he remembers that feeling today when speaking with his own patients. He values having the worry a person feels when making a decision about their health understood, and that they do not feel alone in the process.