Koray Başar is a faculty member at the Department of Psychiatry at Hacettepe University, where he completed his psychiatry residency training in 2007. His main clinical and research interests include mental health related to diversity in sexual development, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and especially the effects of discrimination on the mental well-being of individuals and their families. He is one of the leading experts in gender-affirmative medical care in Turkey. He leads monthly groups for family members of LGBTI+ individuals in Ankara for almost 15 years. He has actively organized and participated as an educator in numerous educational programs on these issues for mental health professionals.
He contributed as author to the last version of the Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, by World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). He is board member of the European Professionals Association for Transgender Health (EPATH).
He is the Chair-Elect of the Steering Committee of the European Psychiatric Association Council of National Psychiatric Associations. He is the secretary of The EPA Section on Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities.
He was trained as a sex therapist in the Society for Sexual Education, Treatment, and Research in Turkey, served as an executive committee member of the Society from 2018-2020, and still acts as an educator in their training programs.
He is the past president of the Psychiatric Association of Turkey, where he acted as the secretary general between 2018-2021, and the president between 2021-2022.
He is the President of the Turkish Association of Nervous and Mental Health. He is associate editor in the Turkish Journal of Psychiatry.
