About Us

Tolgay Şatana was born in 1968 in Ankara, Turkey, where he completed his entire education from primary school onwards.

After graduating from Ankara University Faculty of Medicine in 1991, he completed his compulsory service at the Tuzluca Central Health Center in Kars. In 1992, through the TUS (Medical Specialization Exam), he began his postgraduate training in the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine. In 1997, he was appointed as an Orthopedics Specialist at Ankara Etimesgut State Hospital. Between 1998 and 1999, he fulfilled his military service at Erzurum Mareşal Çakmak Military Hospital.

In 1999, he spent nearly two years in the United States, participating in studies on spinal cord experimental research at Michigan State University and working in the fields of spinal surgery and pediatric orthopedics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Orthopedics Department. Upon returning to Turkey, he was assigned to Gaziantep State Hospital and also worked for a period at Gaziantep American Hospital. Later, he transferred to Ankara Training and Research Hospital and subsequently to the health center of Middle East Technical University (METU). After 12 years of public service at the same institution, he left to establish the Orthopedics and Traumatology Clinic at Ankara Med-Art Medical Center.

He was instrumental in procuring Turkey’s first endoscopic spine surgery equipment at Akman Med-Art Medical Center, enabling the first applications of this surgery starting from 2004.

In 2008, after working in various private hospitals in Istanbul, he began accepting patients as a private practitioner in his own office. He has served as a founding and board member of the International Medical Laser Association (IMLAS) and the World, European, and Asian Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Societies (ISMISS, PASMISS, Asian and American MISS). Through these organizations, he has visited colleagues in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Israel, Korea, Indonesia, China, and Japan, gaining the opportunity to work directly with pioneers of endoscopic spine surgery.

Quickly recognized internationally for his work, Tolgay Şatana remains an international trainer and speaker in percutaneous endoscopic spine surgery and serves on the boards of relevant societies. He is also a founding member of OMID and MINOD associations, continuing his mission through leadership roles. Known as the creator and organizer of ISMISS Turkey congresses, he has worked extensively to promote minimally invasive surgery. Under ISMISS Turkey, he coordinated six international congresses and established cadaver training courses under the TURKMISS brand. Since 2008, over 300 surgeons have received hands-on cadaver training through TURKMISS courses, and 1,200 physicians have been certified at the congresses.

Beyond his contributions in Turkey, he helped globalize minimally invasive surgery by being among the founders of the World Federation of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (WFMISS). In April 2014, he organized the first-ever WFMISS World Congress in Istanbul, where 300 physicians were certified, achieving several milestones alongside TURKMISS cadaver courses.

While he continues his academic work as a private practitioner in Turkey, Dr. Tolgay Şatana focuses primarily on endoscopic spine surgery but also accepts patients in all fields of orthopedic surgery. He has been instrumental in promoting arthroscopic joint surgery methods for the shoulder joint (in addition to the knee) and is among the first physicians to apply arthroscopic treatments to the elbow, wrist, ankle, and hip joints.

In addition to supporting reforms in Turkey’s healthcare system, he actively advocates through civil society organizations such as the Private Sector Physicians Association, Hekimder, and Medical Chambers to prevent the negative aspects of private sector practices from harming the medical profession or the public interest.

Due to the limitations on academic work imposed by working full-time in private hospitals, he began accepting patients in his own private office in 2012.

Tolgay Şatana is the father of one daughter and one son.