Prof. Akdağ is currently serving as the Minister of Health for the Turkey, previously serving this post between 2002 and 2013. He is a founding member and board member of Erzurum Branch of the National Pediatrics Association, member of the Turkish Pediatric Hematology Association. Prior to this, he was the Deputy Head of Ataturk University Biotechnological Implementation and Research Center between 1997-2000, member of the Transfusion Commission between 1998-2002, member of the Pharmaceuticals Research Committee, while also holding a post of Professor at the Child Health and Disease Branch of the Medical Faculty of Ataturk University. Prof. Akdağ, first graduated as a medical doctor, and further went on to study Molecular Biology Techniques with a focus on Polymerase Chain Reaction in the King’s College School of Medicine in London. He has written nearly 100 scientific articles, and won the prize of the Article of the Year from the Chamber of Doctors of Istanbul in 1996.