Muhammed Atak joined King’s College London in August 2026 as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN).
He is an Associate Professor of Public Health at Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, where he is a faculty member in the Department of Public Health. His research interests include health promotion, health literacy, childhood obesity and diabetes prevention, school-based interventions, health behaviours, implementation science, and public health policy.

Alongside his academic career, he has held senior leadership positions within the Turkish Ministry of Health, including serving as Director General of Health Promotion. In this role, he contributed to the development and implementation of national policies and programmes in areas including health promotion, health literacy, healthy lifestyles, and public health communication. His experience across both academia and national public health administration has shaped a particular interest in bridging research, policy and real-world public health practice, and in translating scientific evidence into population-level interventions.

During his time at King’s, his research focuses particularly on the prevention of childhood obesity and diabetes risk, with an emphasis on school-based and behavioural approaches and interdisciplinary work connecting public health, education and mental health. He also aims to develop international research collaborations and contribute to the translation of research findings into effective public health policies and practice.

Before joining King’s, he held several academic and public health positions in Türkiye and has taught at a number of universities, with his main academic appointment at Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine. He received his medical degree from Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, and subsequently obtained his PhD in Public Health from Istanbul University.

Research Interests

• Health Promotion and Health Literacy
• School Health and School-Based Interventions
• Childhood Obesity and Diabetes Prevention
• Implementation Science and Evidence-to-Practice Translation
• Public Health Policy and Health SystemsMigration, Health Inequalities and Vulnerable Populations
• Disaster and Emergency Public Health

Expertise and Public Engagement

• Public health leadership and policy: He has contributed to national and local public health policy and practice in Türkiye through senior leadership roles within the Ministry of Health, including as Director General of Health Promotion, with a particular focus on health promotion, health literacy, preventive health services and population health programmes.
• Humanitarian and global health: He has been actively involved in humanitarian health initiatives and has participated in and led health projects in resource-constrained and vulnerable settings, including Chad, Rwanda and the Türkiye–Syria border, working with refugee communities and other vulnerable populations.
• Civil society and community leadership: He has held leadership and board positions in several health-focused civil society organisations, including organisations working in humanitarian health, health sciences and professional collaboration. His roles have included General President of Young Doctors Worldwide Türkiye, and board membership of Doctors Worldwide Türkiye.
• Public engagement and professional education: He regularly contributes to lectures, panels, workshops and professional education activities on public health, disaster and emergency health, health management, health inequalities and medical professionalism.