Traditional and Complementary Medicine

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Academic / Professional Translation
Throughout thousands of years of human history, medicine has always existed just as diseases have. In a general sense, medicine, as the art of healing, tests and experiences every kind of instrument as both a preventive and curative measure, passing them down to the next generation after filtering them through the refining sieve of centuries. The experiences of previous generations transform into the literature of new ones.

Today, 'Traditional and Complementary Medicine' reappears on the stage of history to be a friend, assistant, and complement to modern medicine. Influenced by the current global trend of escaping the artificial and returning to nature and the natural, thousands-of-years-old traditional treatment techniques are reintegrating into our lives with their therapeutic potentials in some cases and generally preventive healing capacities for human health.

Numerous physicians from the medical community are receiving training in the field of 'Traditional Medicine'—a domain they are drawn to due to both their own patient experiences and the support of scientific evidence—and are utilizing these methods in their treatments in an integrated manner.

In response to these encouraging global developments, the most definitive and boldest step in the world regarding the legitimacy of GETAT (Traditional and Complementary Medicine) within the scope of evidence-based medicine came from our country. Through the successive regulations published by the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health, these ancient healing methods have attained a legal ground that is officially suitable for scientific research methodology for the first time in the world. With this reformist step, which the World Health Organization (WHO) presented as an example to the world, the state fulfilled its duty in the field of GETAT, and the torch was passed to the scientists.

Right at this juncture, a previously unnoticed gap in education, employment, and recruitment came to the fore. The most critical of these gaps was the lack of academic personnel and academic programs required to conduct research activities essential for understanding the physiological processes underlying traditional treatments and positioning these methods correctly within contemporary medicine. If these practices were to be performed, they had to be carried out in compliance with scientific methodology, meaning they had to be evidence-based.

For all these reasons at this historical turning point, a master's and doctoral program has been established within the Graduate School of Health Sciences at Istanbul Medipol University, aiming to raise researchers who can bring the findings and outcomes of traditional treatments into the laboratory and analyze them. This program is designed to train researchers who are proficient in both the application methods of traditional treatments and current medical terminology, capable of carrying these practices into the laboratory environment.

Within the framework of the program in question, students who will benefit from the high-level facilities of our university will not only have the opportunity to observe practices in GETAT polyclinics but will also gain the chance to conduct research in REMER laboratories, carrying these out under the academic supervision of internationally successful scientists.

Furthermore, it is aimed to provide all participants with the ability to conduct their research independently with academic rigor by integrating their experiences in their own professional fields with traditional medicine practices.

Graduates of our GETAT Master’s Program will be able to meet the demand in the sector as qualified practitioners, provided they meet the relevant criteria of the Ministry of Health. Our graduates who do not have the authority to practice medicine will be able to engage in research and academic activities, according to their own professional fields, to contribute to understanding the mechanisms of traditional treatments, developing existing instruments for traditional practices, or enabling the approaches of different disciplines to contribute to the advancement of the application areas of traditional treatments.

Head of Department of Traditional and Complementary Medicine

Asst. Prof. Ali Timuçin ATAYOĞLU