Prof. Dr. Zehra Büyüktuncer Demirel

Head of Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Hacettepe University

Prof. Zehra Buyuktuncer-Demirel graduated with a BSc degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Hacettepe University in 2000. She completed an MSc in Dietetics (2003) and a PhD in Nutrition and Dietetics (2008) at the Institute of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University. Prof. Büyüktuncer-Demirel was appointed as Assistant Professor in 2011, Associate Professor in 2012 and Professor in 2018 at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Hacettepe University, where she started as a research assistant in 2001. Dr Buyuktuncer-Demirel worked as a lecturer at the University of Chester, Department of Clinical Sciences in the UK between 2008 and 2010. She also worked as a visiting researcher at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center and Sleep Center of Excellence in the United States between 2019 and 2020. Prof Büyüktuncer-Demirel has been the Turkish delegate to the European Federation of Associations of Dietitians and the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations since 2015. She is a member of the Food and Nutrition Working Group of the Turkish Academy of Sciences. Her research interests cover various aspects of nutritional sciences including functional foods, gut microbiome, circadian rhythm and gene-diet interactions.