Dr. Derya CAN, MD

Born in Istanbul, Derya completed her primary and secondary education in the city. Between 2002 and 2005, she attended Istanbul Atatürk Science High School as a boarding student. Having loved adventure since childhood, Derya felt that an ordinary medical school wouldn’t be enough for her, so she placed GATA Medical Faculty — a military medical school — at the top of her university preferences.

Her military medical journey, which began in 2005, was full of action — rifle and pistol training, live fire drills, and even a bit of crawling through the mud — and continued until she became a First Lieutenant Physician in 2011. Naturally, her training didn’t stop there: she completed a year of military training and courses for field duty, all while preparing for the seemingly endless cycle of specialty exams known as the TUS.

At the end of that year, having successfully completed both her military training and the TUS exam, she nonetheless set off for Bingöl for her mandatory service. Believing that all of Türkiye was her responsibility, she served the soldiers, gendarmerie, and police stationed at the Bingöl Garrison.

Her adventures as an action-loving physician didn’t end there. At the Bingöl Garrison, she not only took charge of treatment for all the units stationed there, but also carried out ambulance-helicopter patient and casualty transport duties with distinction. A single role was never quite enough for her.

After passing the TUS exam again in 2012, she returned to GATA in 2014 to pursue her specialty training — standing still was never her style. In 2016, while still in training, she transitioned to the status of military physician under the Ministry of Health and continued her professional journey. In 2019, she completed her specialty training and was appointed to Çubuk Halil Şıvgın State Hospital. There, she learned what a warm, welcoming hospital environment could look like, and how much staff truly mattered.

After all, learning has no age limit and no end point. As her professional experience grew, she began asking herself a new question: what more could she do for patients living with pain? During this search, she came across traditional and complementary medicine (GETAT) methods and pain treatment approaches. Believing she had to start somewhere, she enrolled in a prolotherapy course — and from that day on, she never left the world of prolotherapy behind. Curious about how this treatment worked, how it relieved pain, and how it helped patients heal, she found herself back at Gülhane — this time in the prolotherapy department.

She believed this field required more than simply performing an injection. It demanded in-depth study, continuous learning, and careful clinical evaluation. Over nearly five years, she developed extensive clinical experience through continuous study and practice. As of September 2026, she has participated in the evaluation and treatment of over 100,000 patients. She didn’t stop there either — she incorporated many traditional and complementary medicine treatments into her practice. She conducted scientific studies on low back pain, fibromyalgia, PRP, and traditional and complementary treatment methods, continuing her academic work through national and international articles, presentations, and book chapters. On top of all this, deciding it was time for a new adventure, she left her positions at the Ministry of Health and the General Command of the Gendarmerie to open her own private practice.

She had one clear goal: to offer patients living with pain not just prolotherapy, but a personalized, holistic approach that considers different treatment options based on each patient’s individual needs — sharing the clinical experience and expertise in traditional and complementary medicine she had built up over the years.

Dr. Derya CAN Clinic

As of June 30, 2022, she left her position while holding the rank of Major to begin seeing patients at her own private practice, where she continues her work today in Çankaya, Ankara.

At her clinic, Dr. Derya Can focuses particularly on non-surgical pain treatment and recovery-oriented approaches, applying personalized treatment strategies for the assessment of pain originating from the lower back, neck, knee, shoulder, joints, muscles, and connective tissue.

She plans different treatment methods — including prolotherapy, PRP, stem cell therapy, exosome therapy, neuroprolotherapy, prolozone, ozone, and collagen and hyaluronic acid injections — based on each patient’s individual needs. She also draws on ESWT, lymphedema applications, and a range of traditional and complementary medicine (GETAT) methods.

Bringing the clinical experience she has built up over the years into her own practice, Dr. Derya Can follows an approach aimed not simply at temporarily easing pain, but at evaluating the underlying structures causing it together with each patient’s individual factors. She also incorporates longevity medicine, IV nutrient therapy, and vitamin and mineral applications, alongside a functional medicine approach, as part of personalized health planning.

*Last updated: September 4, 2026*