The Sabri Ülker Foundation was established in 2009 in honour of Sabri Ülker, a veteran of the Turkish food industry and well known philanthropist in Tűrkiye and beyond. The focus of the Foundation is public health and our vision, mission and way of working are as follows:
A warm welcome to this, the English version of the Sabri Ülker Foundation
(SÜF) website. The Foundation was established in 2009 in honour of Sabri
Ülker, a veteran of the Turkish food industry and well known philanthropist in
Türkiye and beyond. The focus of our Foundation is public health. I inherited a
flourishing enterprise when I joined back in 2018 and we are indebted to very
many organisations, scientists, communication specialists and other experts
from around the world for sharing their insights and expertise, for their
collaboration and, above all, for their ongoing encouragement. I would also like
to gratefully acknowledge the tireless efforts of our team here in Istanbul, and of
our International Science Committee. With this support and guidance we have
become well established as a ‘go-to’ resource for those seeking input on
health and nutrition, especially in Türkiye and surrounding areas.
Much of the information featured on the Turkish version of our website is only
available in Turkish and the objective of this English language version is to
provide an overview of the activities of our Foundation for a wider audience. It
is not intended to provide a direct translation
We welcome feedback and suggestions and, together we look forward to
building on our efforts to date for the good of society.
The Sabri Ülker Foundation is a not for profit science-based organization making a significant contribution towards improving public health in Türkiye and beyond.
We operate under 3 key pillars, namely:
Education – promoting a healthy, balanced diet and an appropriate level of physical activity
Research – supporting and encouraging scientific research and other initiatives in the field of food and nutrition, and
Communications – presenting the public with relevant information derived from a variety of reliable sources.
NOTE: Whilst this website is structured according to our 3 key pillars, many of our activities fit under more than one heading and, in many cases, under all three. Hence, in order to access a specific project or activity it may be necessary to scan all the pillars or use the ‘search’ function. The website presents an overview of our activities and is not intended to be comprehensive. Please do contact us should you have any questions about our activities, both those described on the website and those not represented.
The programme of our Foundation is managed by a Science Committee comprising an international group of scientists who are experts in a range of disciplines relevant to our objectives. A permanent team based in Istanbul is responsible for implementing the programme of the Foundation together with the Science Committee. An important element of our modus operandi is collaboration with internationally recognised centres of excellence.
Examples include:
• The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF)
• The European Food Information Council (EUFIC)
• The Nutrition Society of Great Britain and Ireland (The NS), and
• The International Life Sciences Institute, and
• The Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS)
• Among others
We also partner with many Universities in Türkiye and elsewhere and with research programmes of the European Union (EU) on a wide range of projects.
In addition to this we work closely with and have responsibility for the communication activities of the Hotamışlıgil Lab, Sabri Ülker Center, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. This research group is focused on nutrient, genetic and metabolic research with a view to establishing new therapeutic solutions to today’s greatest threats to global human health. https://gsh.sph.harvard.edu/
Our Foundation follows closely the activities of reference organizations such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) among others.
A key goal of our foundation is to empower the public to better consider the role of nutrition and physical activity in achieving and maintaining better health. We accomplish this by way of direct contact with the public via education initiatives including our award-winning Balanced Nutrition Education Project and our Website https://en.sabriulkerfoundation.org. We also interact with media and healthcare professionals, hosting workshops and conferences and providing the tools for them to communicate sound science in a useful format.
We are proud of our achievements thus far and look forward to a healthier future.
Dr. Talat İçöz, Chairman of Sabri Ülker Foundation
Özlem Üliç Çatar, Secretary General
Özge Dinç Coşkun, Nutrition and Scientific Communication Executive
Duygu Ayşe Paksu, Project and Communication Executive
Dr. Talat İçöz, Chairman of Sabri Ülker Foundation
Prof. F. Nur Baran Aksakal, Science Committee Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. Diána Bánáti, Science Committee Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Dr. Laura Fernández Celemín, Science Committee Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. Zehra Büyüktuncer Demirel, Science Committee - Nutrition Board Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, Science Committee President of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. Hünkar Korkmaz, Science Committee - Education Board Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. Beraat Özçelik, Honorary Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Dr. Zeki Ziya Sözen, Science Committee Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Dr. Julian D Stowell, Science Committee Consultant of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. Serhat Ünal, Science Committee Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation
Prof. M. Temel Yılmaz, Honorary Member of Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation, Head Of Department Of Immunology At The Experimental Medicine Research Institute, Istanbul University and Head Of Diabetes Foundation Of Turkey