Speaker

Prof.Dr. E.Didem Evci Kiraz graduated from Ege University Faculty of Medicine in 1989. She worked as an International Organisations Officer in the Department of Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Health and as a branch manager and coordinator in the General Directorate of Primary Health Care Services. On 10 November 1999, she established the Tourism Health Branch. She completed her Master's Degree in Public Health at Gazi University and PhD in Public Health at Hacettepe University. With the scholarship of the Ministry of Health, she studied Environmental Protection, Ecology and Biodiversity at the Durrell Institute of Kent University in England. He is one of the experts in the field of "Environmental Health" in Turkey. In 1996, he became the representative of Turkey in the "Healthy Cities Project" initiated by the World Health Organisation in 1987. In 2000, he assumed the duty of Turkey National Network Coordinator of the World Health Organisation Healthy Cities Project. He is the first healthy cities national network coordinator of Turkey. In 2004, he pioneered the establishment of the Union of Healthy Cities of Turkey and the preparation of the draft bylaws. For 30 years, he has been working for the popularisation of the concept of "Healthy City" in Turkey. As the Healthy Cities Coordinator of Aydın Municipality between 2004-2014, he ensured that Aydın was included in the World Health Organisation Healthy Cities list for 10 years. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Association of Healthy Cities of Turkey for many years. On 21 January 2021, he was invited by the World Health Organization to be a member of the European Healthy Cities Network, Phase VII (2019-2025) Scientific Committee. He takes part in sub-working groups of the network, especially Environment and Health, One Health. He has numerous urban health scientific publications, training programmes and projects. He has carried out the projects of Council of Europe - Health Impact Assessment, TUBITAK - Provincial Innovation Platform, GEKA - Establishment of Innovation Centre. He is currently working as the Head of the Department of Interdisciplinary Environmental Health, the director of the "City Health Promotion Application and Research Centre" and the "Roma Application and Research Centre" at Aydın Adnan Menderes University and a faculty member of the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health. She served as the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the same university between 2016-2019. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Ministry of Health "Expertise in Medicine Commission". He has been working as the "Health Sector Expert" of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the "Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation Action in Turkey Project" and "EU Partnership for Local Climate Action in Turkey Project" implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and United Nations Development Programme Country Office for Turkey (UNDP CO Turkey). He prepared the National Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan and Local Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan for four pilot provinces. He is the first climate and health hazard, impact, vulnerability and risk assessment expert in Turkey. In 2021 and 2024, he represented Turkey at the 26th and 29th Conferences of the Parties (COP26 and COP29). He prepared and implemented the first climate and health education module and training in Turkey; he was the first academic to add climate and health education to the medical faculty curriculum. The World Health Organisation makes scientific contributions to climate and health studies. He is the founder of the Association for Health and Climate Change in Turkey and the pioneer and scientific board member of the Climate Clinic initiative launched in 2022. He has numerous scientific publications, training programmes and projects in the field of climate and health. As of 5 March 2025, he was appointed as a member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Health Policies of Turkey under the Presidency of Health Institutes of Turkey. In 2025, he received the Lifetime Scientific Award. For detailed CV: http://www.profedidemevcikiraz.com