After completing his residency training, during which he contributed to the Turkish versions of DAWBA and SDQ 2-4 alongside Prof. Robert Goodman and Dr. Guvenir, Dr. Onur Burak Dursun began his career as the Head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Ataturk University Medical School and Hospital in 2010. In 2012, he completed an academic attachment as an observer at King’s College and Maudsley in London. Three years later, in 2015, he joined the UC Davis MIND Institute as a researcher, becoming the first academician to complete the ITPND (International Training in Neurodevelopmental Disorders) program under the mentorship of Randi Hagerman.
Upon returning to Turkey, Dr. Dursun dedicated his efforts to improving the quality of services for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and establishing essential services both in Turkey and other developing countries. He mentored and established Turkey's first Early Screening and Intervention Center for Toddlers. Around the same time, he led a team to create an interactive video-based training program for professionals, as well as a model for early recognition and referral systems. To date, this system has reached over 3 million children across the country.
In 2019, Dr. Dursun joined the University of Health Sciences as the Head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at the International Medical School in Istanbul. Concurrently, he served as the Clinical Director of Kanuni Training and Education Hospital in Trabzon. There, he mentored and established the first multidisciplinary Child Mental Health Service Unit in a state hospital in Turkey, setting a model for dozens of similar units, known as ÇÖZGEM, across the country.
In 2020, Dr. Dursun became the founding head of the newly established Autism, Mental Special Needs, and Rare Diseases Department in the Turkish Ministry of Health. Over the next four years, he mentored and initiated more than 20 pioneering projects that significantly enhanced the quality of health services for individuals with autism and rare diseases, contributed to policy-making, and established high-quality specialized services.
Explore the projects on autism and mental special needs mentored by Dr. Dursun here.
Explore the projects on rare diseases mentored by Dr. Dursun here.
During the COVID-19 pandemic and the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, one of the deadliest disasters of the century, Dr. Dursun was instrumental in planning child mental health and rare disease services for the Turkish Ministry of Health. The telehealth services he mentored, such as the Special Children Support System and the Mental Health Support System, were recognized as exemplary models worldwide and were presented at the G7 Summit. Click here to learn more about the disaster response services led by Dr. Dursun.