Dr. Abdullah Kutlar is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation and an Associate Professor in the College of Graduate Studies and serves as the Director of the MCG Sickle Cell Center.
Dr. Kutlar earned his MD degree from Ankara University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey, in 1971. Following residency and fellowship training in hematology, he focused primarily on red cell disorders including thalassemia and sickle cell disease. He also served as a Research Fellow at the Sickle Cell Center at the Georgia Health Sciences University, in 1982-1983. He returned to the Sickle Cell Center in Augusta in 1984 where he worked in the research laboratories until 1990 under the directorship of the late Professor Titus H.J. Huisman.
Because of his expertise and training, Dr. Kutlar was named Director of the Sickle Cell Center In 1994. Under his leadership, the Sickle Cell Center Laboratory has served as a core lab for NIH and pharmaceutical sponsored clinical trials as well as a clinical site for many multicenter, national, and international studies of sickle cell disease.
Dr. Kutlar has served on several NIH review panels, served as a member of DSMB, and serves on the Steering Committee of the Candidate-gene Association Resource (CARE) program of the NHLBI. Dr. Kutlar’s research interest in recent years has been in the area of genetic modifiers of SCD and the elucidation of risk factors for various complications. He is also interested in the development of novel therapies and evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of SCD.