Who are you?
I’m Erkin!
What are you doing?
Primarily training to be a physician-engineer. I also like cooking, eating, traveling, and coding. In addition to long walks on the beach, I also enjoy watching space documentaries
Where?
Currently at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). Although Wisconsin will always have my heart - Go Badgers!!
When will you get a real job?
This is my extended family’s favorite question. Soon enough. Although my MD-PhD training technically is a job, many thanks to the NIH and US Tax Payers. I’ve been gainfully employed in the past; it was overrated.
Why?
idk. Let me know if you figure out the “why of it all.”
Why are you pursuing this training?
That I can answer. Fundamentally, we can advance human health with the power of data. I want to make a small impact by deeply understanding both medicine and engineering. If nothing else, I can serve as a bridge between them, connecting my friends and colleagues on both sides of campus.
How
How do you say your name?
Erkin: the stuff you breath & your family, “Air-kin”
Ötleş: missing some oats, “Oat-less” (“Oat-lesh” and “At-esh” also work)
How will you do this?
I’m still figuring it out. But I think there are four key components: learning, doing, disseminating, and connecting.
- Learning: understand the problems and state of the art deeply (both in medicine and engineering)
- Doing: develop solutions based on that knowledge and test them rigorously in the real world through implementation and continuous evaluation
- Disseminating: sharing knowledge and work helps to scale impact and virtuously feeds learning and doing (I’m trying to improve on this front)
- Connecting: new friends generate new ideas, and networks are powerful tools for accomplishing audacious goals
Are you open to consulting?
Yes. I am open to artificial intelligence, data science, and health information consulting. Have done all of that in the past. Unfortunately, I have no guarantees on time availability.