Abstract
We are delighted to celebrate our phenomenal reviewers who will be recognized every month. The quality of the journal is entirely dependent on the authors for choosing our journal for their manuscripts and reviewers for ensuring that the submissions are improved. The spotlighted reviewers were selected based on the number, quality and turnaround time of manuscripts reviewed during the last two years. We are also grateful to our Editorial Board for sharing the burden of the reviews.
Dr. Altuğ Tuncel graduated from Gazi University’s Faculty of Medicine (Ankara-Turkey) in 1996 and completed his medical proficiency training at the Urology Department of the same faculty on March 21, 2002. Upon the completion of his medical proficiency training, he started to work as a chief assistant at the Third Urology Clinic at Ankara Numune Research and Training Hospital of the Ministry of Health of Turkey on July 11, 2002. He was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Scholarship by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and worked as a research fellow for 10 months at the University of Texas (USA), Southwestern Medical Center Department of Urology under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Jeffrey A. Cadeddu and took part in a number of research projects on endourology and urooncology. Also, he was trained in urologic laparoscopic surgery through practical work at the wet laboratory with animal models and at the dry laboratory with a virtual reality simulator. He also observed laparoscopic operations undertaken by Prof. Dr. Cadeddu. Upon his return to his country, he started undertaking urologic laparoscopic surgeries at the clinic. Dr. Tuncel received the title of Associate Professor on December 25, 2008, following the successful completion of the relevant exams. Dr. Tuncel was also awarded the Certification of Fellows of the European Board of Urology (2009). Dr. Altuğ Tuncel was promoted to full Professorship at the University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey in 2017. He currently works at Ankara State Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Dr. Tuncel has published extensively in international (over 100 peer-reviewed) and other publications. In 2019, Dr. Tuncel published a series of fluorescence-guided laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy in different types of adrenal diseases in a reputable international journal as a first in the literature.
Dr. Altuğ Tuncel has also participated as an invited speaker in numerous international meetings and webinars. He has actively enrolled as faculty at several international scientific organizations, including the European Association of Urology Urotechnology Group (ESUT), SIU (Societe Internationale d’Urologie) Urotechnology Education Group, and the Uro-asian Urooncology Association. He also numerously performed endoscopic, laparoscopic and open surgeries in different countries in Africa and Asia under the guidance of the Ministry of Health of Turkey and scientific work-shop organizations. Dr. Tuncel actively worked as a guest physician at the Medical University of Vienna, Department of Urology (Austria) between March 2024 and December 2024.
In addition to his contributions to the general field of urology, Dr. Tuncel’s work focuses more on uro-oncology and endourology (robot-assisted and pure laparoscopic upper and lower urinary tract surgeries, minimally invasive urinary tract stone surgeries, Anatomical Endoscopic Enucleation of the Prostate (Bipolar, HOLEP, ThuLEP), and minimally invasive fluorescence-guided total/partial adrenalectomy.