Dr. Taha Özkara

Dr. Taha Özkara was born in Erzurum in 1984 and grew up in Çorlu. He completed his medical education at Maltepe University Faculty of Medicine (2002–2009). He served as an emergency physician and Community Health Director in Bilecik in 2009. He completed his Cardiovascular Surgery residency at Trakya University Faculty of Medicine (2011–2018), investigating pericardial SCUBE-1 biomarkers in coronary bypass patients for his thesis. Between 2018 and 2024 at Erzurum City Hospital, he performed extensive valve, aortic, carotid, and off-pump bypass surgeries.

His primary clinical focus is minimally invasive cardiac surgery. He has extensive experience in beating-heart MIDCAB, total arterial multi-vessel grafting, endoscopic valve repair. Performing awake carotid endarterectomy under regional cervical plexus block, he also specializes in endovascular aortic repair (EVAR/TEVAR) and hybrid vascular interventions.

Since 2016, he has performed over 1,400 open-heart surgeries, 500+ carotid surgeries, and 600+ peripheral vascular interventions. In addition to conducting six open-heart surgeries weekly, he oversees intensive care management, post-op recovery protocols, and international patient surgical programs.

He is an author of 11 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals and an active participant in international congresses including ISMICS 2025 and European Vascular Course (EVC Maastricht). He is a prominent advocate for robotic surgery, 3D endoscopic optics, and ECMO technologies. He speaks fluent English and intermediate German. He is married with one child.