[From the fight against tuberculosis to AIDS: Dr. Turgut Altuğ (1921-2008)].

Abstract

Dr. Turgut Altuğ was a doctor who was raised in the early Republican era of Turkey who later continued his professional career in the United States. He graduated as a military doctor from Ankara University in 1946, later obtaining a specialty in bacteriology and infectious diseases and working as the hospital director at the Heybeliada Sanatorium during 1953-1958. His first visit to the US was in 1958, when he spent time in at various military hospitals in Washington DC as an observer. He continued his career in the US in various hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Waco, Texas. During the years that he worked in Boston, he also taught courses at the Tufts University Medical School Subsequently Dr. Altuğ worked in hospitals within the U.S. Veterans' Administration from 1980 until 1995 when he retired. Dr. Altuğ received a 60-Year Honorable Service Award from the Istanbul Physicians' Association in 2006.