Türkan Saylan, a University Professor, who was credited with ridding Turkey of leprosy, died after a long battle with cancer in Istanbul on 18^th May 2009, aged 74.  

Born in Istanbul in 1935, Professor Saylan graduated from Istanbul University School of Medicine in 1963, specialising in venereal diseases and dermatology. She became an Associate Professor at Istanbul University in 1972 and was Professor there from 1977 until 2002, when she retired.

In 1976 Professor Saylan turned her focus and energies to leprosy. In fact she was to become a pioneering worker in the field of leprosy control in her country of birth. She devoted herself to the prevention of leprosy and also helped rehabilitate people who had been affected by leprosy. In that same year, Professor Saylan founded the Voluntary Association for Leprosy Relief Work with the aim of improving the lives of people affected by leprosy. She published a number of papers and booklets on leprosy. She helped found the International Leprosy Union (ILU) too. Professor Saylan was recognised internationally for her wide-ranging medical, social and educational work on leprosy and in 1986 she recieved the International Gandhi Award.

Additionally in 1989, she founded the Association for the Support of Contemporary Living (CYDD). Since then this Association has provided educational grants for poor children, especially girls, and built schools in Turkey’s impoverished areas. Professor Saylan was appointed a member of the Higher Education Council of Turkey, where she served from 2001 – 2007.

Professor Saylan published numerous articles both in English and Turkish on medicine, education and issues related to women. Among her books published in Turkey were her autobiographical The Sun Rises from Hope Now and Being a Doctor.