In 1955, Mustafa Reşit Tarakçıoğlu, one of the Trabzon deputies, and his friends prepared a law proposal for the establishment of a new higher education institution in Trabzon under the name of "Karadeniz Technical University", which will be "a scientific production and research center and laboratory in the large region.” This proposal was accepted with the law numbered 6594 at the meeting of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 20 May 1955. Rectorate and Faculty positions were assigned to Karadeniz Technical University with Law numbered 336 dated 19 September 1963. Thus, Faculties of Basic Sciences, Civil Engineering-Architecture, Mechanics-Electrical, and Forestry were established. The first students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture studied for two years in accordance with a joint program carried out by the Faculty of Basic Sciences with support from the Faculty of Science at Istanbul University. Education started at the Trabzon Atatürk Primary School building located in Esentepe Neighborhood on December 2, 1963. The university was moved to the current central campus in 1966.

Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Faculty of Medicine was established on January 4, 1973, as the sixth faculty of the university under the name "Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences" with the Law No. 1650. However, like other newly established similar faculties, it was mandated in the relevant law that it should be supported by Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine for 10 years until its development is completed. Within the scope of the law, a faculty named Trabzon Faculty of Medicine was established within Hacettepe University the same year, and student registrations were made to the faculty as of 1973. However, in many sources belonging to the university, the first student registration is mistakenly given as September 1976. Students who started in the academic year of 1973-74 studied at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine and graduated between 1979-1982, depending on whether they took English preparatory classes or not.

During those years, despite being supported by the state and sending faculty members abroad for their PhD studies, the development of the faculty was delayed due to reasons such as the mandatory assignment of these faculty members in Trabzon, but they did not want to stay there. Until the development of the "KTU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences" in Trabzon was completed, the procedures were carried out by the Trabzon Faculty of Medicine Liaison Office established within Hacettepe University, and the formation of the faculty in Trabzon only began in 1979. As the first dean of the faculty, Prof.Dr. Vural BERTAN, academic staff in the Department of Brain Surgery at Hacettepe University, was appointed. He was followed by Prof. Dr. Şevket UĞURLU, academic staff in the Department of Cardiology, as the dean. With the allocation of the hospital building in Soğuksu-Çamlık under the name "Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine " in the second half of 1979, a limited number of the academic and administrative staff were transferred to Trabzon. Among the academic staff who came to Trabzon were Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine Dean Prof. Dr. Şevket UĞURLU, Deputy Chief Physician Dr. Celal Baki, Dr. Sezer Şener Komsuoğlu, Dr. Baki Komsuoğlu (Dr. Sezer and Baki Komsuoğlu were members of the founding team of the faculty, but could not be present at the faculty in the first years due to going abroad for education), Dr. Güner Kemal Özgür, Dr. Safiye Atalay, and Dr. Asiye Nuhoğlu.

The protocol signed between the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance and the Rectorate of Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) expedited the process of assigning the building located in the Soğuksu-Çamlık area to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of KTU. In the same year, Professor Dr. Ayvaz Karabıyıkoğlu, a general surgery professor, was appointed as the Dean of the Trabzon Faculty of Medicine at Hacettepe University. Prof. Dr. Karabıyıkoğlu had previously served as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Atatürk University, where he had graduated. During those years, newspaper ads were occasionally placed to address the faculty's need of professor positions. Dr. Zeki Çakmakçı, Dr. Sinan Kazancıoğlu, Dr. Burhan Pişkin, Dr. Yusuf Gedik, and Dr. Atilla Gör were added to the faculty's staff in the first year (Table 1). In 1980, assistant positions were also announced. The first assistants included names such as Dr. Savaş Ceylan (Neurosurgery), Dr. Şeref Ceran (Anesthesia), Dr. Nedim Karaismailoglu (Orthopedics), Dr. Mustafa Yılmaz (Internal Medicine), Dr. Sedat Boyacıoğlu (Internal Medicine), Dr. Orhan Özgür (Internal Medicine), and Dr. Turgay Öztürkmen (Urology). The first assistant exams were also held at Hacettepe University, and they began working at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine hospital before being transferred to Trabzon in 1983.

Table 1. Departments and academic staff within the KTU Faculty of Medicine as of 1980-83.

*Baki Komsuoğlu was included in the core staff sent to Trabzon in 1979.  But he went to the University of Birmingham for educational purposes, so his starting date was written in 1982, the date of his return to the country. NOTE: The titles on the date of initiation are written.

During those years, medical branches within the departments of Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Basic Sciences under the scope of KTU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences were structured as departments. Due to the shortage of professors and assistants in the departments, new announcements were made in January and June, 1981 (even at the time, the application address was specified as the Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine Liaison Office). At that time, the majority of the listed positions were held by physician specialist, lecturers, or assistant professors. With the placement of academic and administrative staff, the polyclinic service started on September 21, 1981, and the services were put into practice on June 9, 1982.

Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine and Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences were two separate institutions, causing a complex situation in the building located in Soğuksu - Çamlık, under the name of "Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine". However, the problem was resolved by the decree law no. 41, issued on July 20, 1982. The KTU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine were merged, and the faculty was renamed Karadeniz University Faculty of Medicine (with the same decree, the name of the university was also changed to Karadeniz University by removing the word "Technical" from KTU).

Karadeniz University Faculty of Medicine started its education by accepting its first students in the 1982-83 academic year in Trabzon. However, a total of 180 students began their first year of medical school, including 80 students who had previously been admitted to Hacettepe University Trabzon Faculty of Medicine and had completed their preparatory classes in Trabzon. On the other hand, students of Course Years II and III who were studying at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine for Trabzon Faculty of Medicine completed their education at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine and never came to Trabzon. In the 1982-83 academic year, 17 students in Course Year-IV, 22 students in Course Year-V, and 22 interns (Course Year-VI) from the internship groups of Trabzon Faculty of Medicine, who were studying at Hacettepe University, were sent to Karadeniz University to complete their education. However, since many departments were not yet established or did not have sufficient facilities, the transferred students and interns did not have the necessary infrastructure to receive training in many scientific fields within Karadeniz University Faculty of Medicine. Only a few departments (a total of 8) such as pediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, urology, orthopedics, anesthesia and reanimation had the opportunity to provide training. Therefore, students had to complete their education by doing their internships in various universities and health institutions across the country, and some students even chose to do their internships in other institutions if they wished.

Some of the students who started their first year in 1982-83 and were transferred from Hacettepe currently serve as academic in various fields at the Faculty of Medicine (such as Prof. Dr. Yüksel Aliyazıcıoğlu, Prof. Dr. Faruk Aydın, Prof. Dr. Sibel Velioğlu, Prof. Dr. Asım Örem, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sarı, Prof. Dr. Haydar Usul, Dr. Yaşar Kibar Güven). Prof. Dr. Faruk Aydın, who wrote these lines, was also among the students transferred from Hacettepe University's Trabzon Faculty of Medicine to Karadeniz University Faculty of Medicine that year. When the Faculty of Medicine started its education in those years, the university rector was Prof. Dr. Lami ESER, and the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, located in the Soğuksu area, was Prof. Dr. Ayvaz KARABIYIKOĞLU. The first students mainly took their professional courses in the classroom on the top floor of the Physics Department building, located within the central campus, and occasionally in the lecture halls in the hospital building in Çamlık. Other faculty buildings were also sometimes used for non-professional courses such as English, Turkish, and history. Some basic medical courses were also taught by professors from different universities (Table 1).

In the 1982-83 academic year, there were a total of 24 academic staff in 15 programs within the Faculty of Medicine. Only Dr. Ayvaz Karabıyıkoğlu held the title of professor, while most of the others were assistant professors or physician specialists, with only a few holding the title of associate professor. Over the years, they all completed their careers as professors and became founding academic staff of our institution. With the existence of nearly 50 Departments and close to 100 fields of specializations today, it can be seen that our past began with significant shortcomings.

The number of professors within the Faculty of Medicine increased to five in 1984 with the addition of Prof. Dr. Münir Telatar (Internal Medicine) and Prof. Dr. Hayrettin Muhtar (ENT), and in 1985 with the inclusion of Prof. Dr. Aydın İnal (Obstetrics and Gynecology) and Prof. Dr. Recep Bingöl (Microbiology) (Table 2). Both professors and associate professors were appointed from other universities. After those years, our institution's academic staff continued to strengthen despite occasional losses.

Table 2. Faculty members who joined the academic staff and their starting dates between 1984-86

Prof. Dr. Münir Telatar (Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine) 1984

Prof. Dr. Hayrettin Muhtar (Otorhinolaryngology) 1984

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tülay Bakır (Internal Medicine - Gastroenterology) 1984

Dr. Mehmet Salih Çolak (Anesthesiology) 1984

Prof. Dr. Aydın İnal (Obstetrics and Gynecology) 1985

Prof. Dr. Recep Bingöl (Microbiology) 1985

Dr. Yusuf D. Uzun (Internal Medicine) 1985

Dr. Mithat K. Arslan (General Surgery) 1985

Dr. Mustafa Yandı (General Surgery) 1986

Dr. Hatice Nesrin Erciyes (Anesthesiology) 1986

Dr. Hasan Bozkaya (Obstetrics and Gynecology) 1986

Dr. Çetin Önder (Orthopedics) 1986

Dr. Mehmet Özmenoğlu (Neurology) 1986

Dr. Halit Reşit Gümele (Radiology) 1986

Dr. Mustafa Öncü (General Surgery) 1986

The campus where health services and education are provided today was moved at the end of 1986. Health services, which started in several main departments at the outpatient and day surgery level in September 1981, began to expand with the addition of inpatient services starting from June 1982, and were carried out in a building located in the Soğuksu-Çamlık area, which is now known as the Ahi Evren Chest Cardiovascular Education Research Hospital, until 1987.

With the decision of YÖK (Council of Higher Education) on March 19, 1986, many programs that were previously part of the faculty have been transformed into departments (Table 3).

Table 3. Departments established with the YÖK decision dated March 19, 1986.

Prof. Dr. Aydın İNAL, the Dean of the Faculty, led the relocation process from the Soğuksu-Camlık area to its modern building on the campus. After that, student education begins to be entirely conducted there. Upon the application in that year (1987), the name of the university was re-named as Karadeniz Technical University with the regulation made in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the KTU Faculty of Medicine completed the education of the students it had admitted to its own body in the 1982-1983 academic year and gave its first graduates in 1988. However, graduation ceremonies for the transfer students from Hacettepe had been gradually held before.

As developments in medicine occurred over time, new departments and programs emerged within the Faculty after the 1990s (Table 4).

Table 4. Some departments founded after the 1990s, their establishment dates, and their founders.

*Although the establishment of the Department of Family Medicine was in 1993, the department became active much later (at the end of 2013). Similarly, Thoracic Surgery became active in 2005. NOTE: The titles are written according to the positions on the date of commencement of duty.

In order to meet the increasing need for physicians in the country, the need for new classrooms, lecture halls, reading rooms, etc. also emerged in the faculty parallel to the increase in the number of students admitted to medical faculties. In this context, between 2000-2004, the "Medical Faculty Additional Education Building", located on the east side of the current dean's office building, was built and put into use during the tenure of Dean Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özen. On the other hand, accreditation studies initiated worldwide and in Turkey for the standardization of medical education were also started in KTU Faculty of Medicine after the 2000s, and the pre-graduate education program of the faculty was accredited by UTEAK on January 01, 2013.

KTU Faculty of Medicine, which is an important educational and health institution in our country and region, continues to provide high-level health services to our people with its more than 230 faculty members, more than 200 medical faculty graduates and specialist doctors trained every year, and FARABI HOSPITAL. In addition to health services, it contributes to the country and world science with its academic and scientific studies.