Dr. Koray AĞRAS was born in İzmir in 1971. He graduated from İzmir Atatürk High School in 1988 and from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 1995. Between 1996 and 2001, he completed his specialization training at Ankara Education and Research Hospital under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Demokan Erol, head of the Urology Clinic. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as a Urology Specialist at Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital. Between 2004 and 2005, he served as a “Pediatric Urology Research Fellow” at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Laurence S. Baskin. During this time, he had the opportunity to observe robotic urology surgeries, which were emerging worldwide, under Prof. Dr. Hiep T. Nguyen, who would later initiate the Pediatric Urology
Robotic Surgery Program at Harvard University Boston Children’s Hospital. At UCSF, besides
Pediatric Urology, he participated in surgical and academic activities in various areas of the Urology Clinic with world-renowned professors such as Prof. Dr. Marshall Stoller in Endourology, Prof. Dr. Tom F. Lue in Andrology, Prof. Dr. Jack McAninch in Reconstructive Urology, and Prof. Dr. Peter Carroll and Prof. Dr. Emile Tanagho in Urooncology.
After nearly two years abroad, he returned to Turkey in 2006 and was appointed as a “Urology Specialist” at the newly established Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, where he served until 2017. In 2007, Dr. Ağras was awarded a scholarship by the European Society of Pediatric Urology (ESPU), a grant given to only one individual each year, allowing him to work for two months as a “Visiting Pediatric Urologist” at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, England. During his time there, he had the opportunity to participate in surgeries with the world-renowned experts Prof. Dr. Patrick Duffy, Prof. Dr. Peter Cuckow, and Prof. Dr. Imran Mushtaq at this globally important reference center for complex pediatric urological reconstructive surgeries.
During his presentations at congresses on Pediatric Urology, he received the third-place Kelm Hjalmas Award twice in the basic research category from the European Society of Pediatric Urology (ESPU) (ESPU 2007 Belgium and ESPU 2010 Antalya conferences); in 2005, he won the award for best oral presentation at the Turkish Pediatric Urology Congress (Marmaris), and in 2008, he was awarded the Erol Tellaloğlu Special Award at the National Turkish Urology Congress (Antalya) for his research on Pediatric Urology conducted on human fetuses.
In 2009, after passing the exams held by the European Association of Urology (EAU) and the European Society of Pediatric Urology (ESPU) in Amsterdam and Athens, he earned the “Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU)” and the “Fellow of the European Academy of Pediatric Urology (FEAPU)” certificates, which are necessary to practice in European Union countries. After deciding to continue his career in Turkey, he became an “Associate Professor of Urology” in June 2009 after passing the exam held by the Inter-University Board. In 2011, the Ministry of Health recognized Pediatric Urology as a “newly established subspecialty,” and Dr. Ağras was granted the title of “Pediatric Urology Specialist” as a result of the assessment of his previous work by the Medical Specialization Board.
In 2011, before official Pediatric Urology training programs were established in Turkey, Dr. Ağras founded the first official “Pediatric Urology Clinic” registered in the country’s central appointment system, where he personally served for three years. In May 2013, he initiated the first official Pediatric Urology Subspecialty Training Program in Ankara with approval from the Ministry of Health by establishing a protocol with the Pediatric Surgery Clinic of the Ministry of Health’s Dışkapı Education and Research Hospital. This program allowed Urology Specialists or Pediatric Surgery Specialists to receive Pediatric Urology training for three years. He also contributed to the establishment of Turkey’s first “Urotherapy and Urinary Incontinence Treatment Unit” for children with urinary incontinence at Ankara Atatürk Hospital. In 2014, he performed the first pediatric robotic surgery in Turkey by operating on a child with vesicoureteral reflux using robotic surgery.
In December 2017, Dr. Ağras was appointed as a Professor of Urology at the University of Health Sciences. From 2017 to 2020, he worked as the Administrative and Educational Head of the Urology Clinic at Ankara Education and Research Hospital, one of the busiest Urology Clinics in Turkey, under the assignment of the university. He resigned from this position in August 2020 from a clinic with a strong tradition of Pediatric Urology and Reconstructive Urology.
Dr. Ağras has served as a member of the 3rd Term of the Pediatric Urology Curriculum Committee (TUKMOS) of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Specialization Board, as Deputy Editor of the Turkish Pediatric Urology Bulletin, as a member of the Editorial Board of the Urology Section of Turkey Clinics Journal of Medical Sciences, and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Urology Bulletin’s Pediatric Urology Section. Throughout his academic career, he worked in training clinics and contributed to the education of over a hundred urology residents and four pediatric urology subspecialty residents.
Prof. Dr. Koray Ağras has authored 62 articles published in national and international peerreviewed journals and contributed to 4 book chapters. As of the end of 2022, his articles have been cited 826 times in total, with an h-index of 14. He has participated in over a hundred congresses and symposiums both in Turkey and abroad. In addition to 25 presentations at international congresses and 51 presentations at national congresses, he has delivered 40 invited lectures at various congresses and symposiums.
Dr. Ağras is a member of the Urological Surgery Association, the Turkish Urology Association, the Ankara Urologists Association, the Turkish Pediatric Urology Association, the Endourology Society, the Continence Society, the European Society of Pediatric Urology (ESPU), the European Association of Urology (EAU), and the American Urological Association (AUA). He served as the General Secretary of the Turkish Pediatric Urology Association between 20192021 and currently continues as the vice president of the association.
Since 2020, Dr. Ağras has been seeing patients at his private practice in Neorama Business Center in Ankara and performing surgeries at Ankara Güven Hospital (Ayrancı or Çayyolu Campuses) and Lösante Hospital for Children and Adults. Prof. Dr. Koray Ağras is fluent in English and is married with two children.