Dr. Meral Ciblak

Dr. Meral Akçay (Ciblak) graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1991. Shortly after her graduation she moved to the USA where she continued her education in Medical Microbiology and received her MS degree from Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. Upon graduation she was awarded a Research Fellowship from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA where she worked for 3 years on antifungals. She then worked as Senior Research Specialist at Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA until 2004. She took teaching position from Genetics and Bioengineering Department, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey in 2004. She received her PhD from Istanbul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology with focus on influenza viruses in 2011. During her PhD studies with joint effort of her advisor Influenza Laboratory was nominated as one of the two National Influenza Reference Laboratories which in 2008 was approved by WHO. She is currently the Manager of National Influenza Reference Laboratory located in Istanbul Faculty of Medicine.

She has involved in several activities including organizing scientific meetings aiming to increase influenza awareness among lay public, health care professionals, press and policy makers. 

She has authored and co-authored several articles published in  peer reviewed journals and has served as a reviewer for articles to be published in the field of influenza.