I was born in Cyprus. I graduated from Ege University Medicine Faculty (Izmir - Turkey) and had my residency training at the same university. Mood disorders, especially bipolar disorder and related phenomena such as bipolar depression and manic switch; classification in psychiatry, and training in psychiatry are among my main areas of interest. I am author in more than 130 papers and 20 books or book chapters in Turkish and in English. I am co-editor of “Treatment Guidelines for Bipolar Disorders” and “Source Book of Treatment Guidelines for Depression” published for Psychiatric Association of Turkey. I was the editor of the Turkish version of Bipolar Disorders (translation of the official ISBD journal) for 3 years. I was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Psychiatry Update / Journal of Continuing Education & Continuing Professional Development of Psychiatric Association of Turkey (2011-2014). I have founded and directed several inpatient and outpatient units at Ege University (Affective Disorders Unit (founded in 1986), Clinical Psychopharmacology and Research Inpatient Unit (founded in 1989), Affective Disorders and Research Inpatient Unit (founded in 1997). I have worked as the Residency Training Coordinator at the same department for many years. I was president of the Society for Bipolar Disorders of Turkey (ISBD affiliated) between 2010 and 2013. Also, I have been elected and served as member of the Board of Councillors of the International Society for Bipolar Disorder (ISBD) for two consecutive periods (2007-2011). I served as president (2014-2016) and vice-president (2011-2014) for the Psychiatric Association of Turkey (PAT). I had primary responsibility in organizing scientific meetings and congresses both internationally (e.g. International Conference on Mood Disorders / Close Encounters of Three Seas-Istanbul/2006; 5th Biennial Conference of the ISBD-Istanbul/2012) and nationally (Scientific Program Committee Chair in many National Congress of Psychiatry and other national meetings). I also shared the responsibility with EPA President Professor Danuta Wasserman as co-president of the first EPA-Council of NPAs Symposium (13-14 November 2014, Antalya) which has the title “Cultural, Educational and Economic Issues in Mental Health Care - Current challenges and future perspectives”. Currently, I am working as the director of the Affective Disorders Unit at Department of Psychiatry at Ege University. I am official representative of the Psychiatric Association of Turkey at the EPA. I was elected as the chair of the Steering Committee of the EPA-Council of the National Psychiatric Associations and also serving as Executive Committee member and Board member of the EPA.