İhsan Doğramacı

İhsan Doğramacı
İhsan Doğramacı, 1996
Chairman of UNICEF
In office
1968–1970
Preceded byJoseph W. Willard
Succeeded byNils Thedin
Personal details
Born(1915-04-03)3 April 1915
Died25 February 2010(2010-02-25) (aged 94)
SpouseAyser Süleyman
ChildrenAli Doğramacı (son) and 2 others
ParentDoğramacızade Ali Pasha (Father)
EducationInternational College, Beirut
Alma materIstanbul University
Occupation

İhsan Doğramacı (3 April 1915 – 25 February 2010) was a Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in modern Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Doğramacı was a pediatric physician and an international leader of development. He was the founder of Bilkent University, a leading private university and Hacettepe University, one of the overall highly ranked universities in Turkey which specializes in medical sciences in Ankara, Turkey, chairman of the board of trustees of Middle East Technical University in 1965, chairman of the UNICEF executive board, founding president of the Council of Higher Education of Turkey, executive director and president of the International Pediatric Association (IPA), co-ratifier of WHO's constitution. He was the first president and the chairman of the board of trustees of WHO since 1985.

He was offered national political leadership positions such as ministry of foreign affairs and premiership by Cemal Gürsel and Süleyman Demirel, both of which he declined.

Doğramacı spoke Turkish, English, French, German, Arabic and Persian. He authored over 100 scientific articles, three books, and six book chapters, and served as the editor of four medical journals.