Mehmet Cizmeci

Dr. Mehmet Cizmeci is a staff neonatologist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. He earned his medical degree from Istanbul University Medical School in 2004.  After completing his paediatric residency and neonatology fellowship, he pursued a research fellowship in neonatal neurology, followed by a neuroscience PhD at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 2017.  Dr. Cizmeci joined SickKids as a clinical fellow in neonatal neurology in 2019 and received the Royal College Subspecialty Fellow Excellence Award upon completion. He then completed a two-year distinguished Dr. Karen Pape Fellowship in Neuroplasticity.  As a neonatology faculty member specializing in neonatal neurology, he focuses on the long-term effects of preterm and term brain injuries with a particular interest in predicting and optimizing neurodevelopmental outcomes. He is an active member of the Newborn Brain Society Education Committee and the Children's Hospitals Network Consortium HIE working group. Dr. Cizmeci is deeply dedicated to teaching and has consistently received teaching awards at the University of Toronto.

Research

Cizmeci's research interests are optimizing treatment in neonatal hemorrhagic brain injury as well as understanding trajectories of neuronal plasticity, neuromodulation, and accurately predicting childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Education and experience

• 2020–2022: Dr. Karen Pape Fellowship in Neuroplasticity, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• 2017–2022: PhD, Clinical and Experimental Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• 2019–2020: Neonatal Neurology Clinical Fellowship, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• 2017: Neonatal Neurology Research Fellowship, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• 2010–2013: Neonatology Fellowship, Turgut Özal University, Ankara, Turkey
• 2004–2010: Pediatric Residency, Istanbul Bakırköy Children’s Teaching Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
• 1998–2004: MD, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey Residency & Fellowship 

Achievements

• 2024: Award for Teaching Excellence, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Training Program, University of Toronto, Canada 
• 2023: Promoting Educational Environment Award, SickKids - Division of Neonatology, University of Toronto, Canada
• 2023: Award for Teaching Excellence, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Training Program, University of Toronto, Canada 
• 2020: CanMEDS Subspecialty Fellow Excellence Award, University of Toronto, Canada

1. [Principal Author]. Cizmeci MN, Groenendaal F, Liem KD, van Haastert IC, Benavente-Fernández I, van Straaten HLM, Steggerda S, Smit BJ, Whitelaw A, Woerdeman P, Heep A, de Vries LS; ELVIS study group. Randomized Controlled Early versus Late Ventricular Intervention Study (ELVIS) in Posthemorrhagic Ventricular Dilatation: Outcome at 2 Years. Journal of Pediatrics 2020 Nov; 226: 28-35. 
2. [Principal Author]. Cizmeci MN, de Vries LS, Ly LG, van Haastert IC, Groenendaal F, Kelly EN, Traubici J, Whyte HE, Leijser LM. Periventricular Hemorrhagic Infarction in Very Preterm Infants: Characteristic Sonographic Findings in the Current Era and Association with Neurodevelopmental Outcome at 2 Years. Journal of Pediatrics 2020 Feb; 217: 79-85.
3. [Principal Author]. Cizmeci MN, Khalili N, Claessens NHP, Groenendaal F, Liem KD, Heep A, Benavente-Fernández I, van Straaten HLM, van Wezel-Meijler G, Steggerda SJ, Dudink J, Išgum I, Whitelaw A, Benders MJNL, de Vries LS; ELVIS study group. Assessment of Brain Injury and Brain Volumes after Posthemorrhagic Ventricular Dilatation: A Nested Substudy of the Randomized Controlled ELVIS Trial. Journal of Pediatrics 2019 May; 208: 191-197.

Relevant pages